Exiled Intent
by Lioriel
Summary: The girl had struck a nerve. Multiple nerves, in fact. He had already understood that the Fae Sorceress was unlike the other useless yordles with her cheerful insanity and bravery bordering on naivety but this... Characters: Veigar & Lulu... And a few others I won't spoil you with yet ;)
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

Dark books of magic and papers lay askew throughout the large, dimly lit study. The hour was nearing midnight but no answer had yet to be found. If it were a simple matter power, Veigar was certain he could have managed long ago. But no, as much as the people of Valoran wanted to believe the political arena was based on power and power alone, there was a certain degree of actual politics needed to rule the world. A book slammed shut, channeling his frustration on the subject into something far less destructive than, say, a primordial burst onto a useless inanimate object.

They'd never take him seriously. It was difficult enough to convince other yordles that he could destroy them at his whim… let alone humans. And for them to believe he could conquer all of Valoran? Impossible. No, Veigar was a joke. A short, high-pitched creature with a limp. Power alone could not unite the city-states. Not without _entirely_ destroying them.

Standing, the yordle stretched , cracking his neck with closed eyes. It had been a long night, perhaps it was time to get some sleep. Though as he walked to the door, Veigar stopped to look over his large, worn map of Valoran on the wall. Would it ever be his? Or would he remain the laughing stock of the League forever?

No. No, he would rise. Rise in glory and power and respect and then no one… no army, no king, and certainly no prison guard would be able to touch him. But first, first he would have to capture the respect of the little people.

… perhaps it was time to return to his original plan. Only this time, no dart-blowing scout was going to get in the way.

 **Chapter One**

When morning came, Veigar woke with a faint smile. The outline of his plan had been worked out late into night. It would not be easy. Last time he had been left too vulnerable by the simplicity. His ego had told him his plan was invulnerable. Never again.

It was after noon that he left at his usual time for a walk through the woods outside his home. It was a decrepit old thing, formally a library in some unknown era. Forgotten and left to time to rot in disrepair, none but Veigar knew of its existence. Even if they had, no yordle would dare enter. A clear sense of darkness surrounded the building. Dying trees, little sign of life. Best of all, the previous owner had clearly taken an interest in all things magic.

Traveling Northeast through the woods, Veigar let his mind wander back to the plan. He'd have to make a visit to Piltover, but he was quite certain he'd be able to find what he needed. At this point it was more a matter of research than anything and-

He paused, alert at the sound of a twig snapping. A moment later, a giggle. Shoot, what day was it? Tuesday. Of course. It was always on Tuesdays that-

"Hyah!" A blast of glittering purple from opposite directions pierced his coat, stinging lightly and slowing him to a near stop.

It was no matter of importance. It wasn't as if she could do any real damage. It was all fairies and glitter with this one. Yet.… He summoned an event horizon, paralyzing the sorceress. She only grinned. "Hope you weren't waiting long!" Veigar chuckled in his menacingly high voice. "I don't have the time to spar today, little girl."

When the spell released, the girl zoomed around to his opposite side, using her staff as a vehicle of sorts. "Where are you going, Veigar? Bandle City? Did you have any special plans? Were you going to try to steal something again?" The questions sputtered out as she landed her staff, spinning around to a finish. Her pesky little fairy followed behind, doing spins of his own before resting on the girl's ornate hat.

He was used to this. Long given up on fighting it. Whether the girl had been waiting or had noticed him by chance, the dark mage had no way of knowing. But her appearances were as frequent as they were painful. "My plans are of no concern to you."

"But it is! If you won't play with me, I should at least get to know why!" she laughed, trotting beside him as he hurried down the path. "Come on, you. Please? Pleeeeeease?"

He shot a halfhearted glare in her direction, all she'd be able to see beneath his enchanted hat. As always, it had no effect. "I'm much too busy to 'play,' girl."

Nonetheless the pleading continued. It was easy enough to tune out, given all the experience that had been forced upon him. But it was _constant_. "Please? What are you doing? Does it have something to do with Teemo? Cupcakes? Gift-shopping?"

He ignored it all, the only evidence of his weariness a slight twitch in his right eye.

"Veeeeigaaar! Oh fine, be that way!" There was a moment of silence, not even the sound of footsteps.

Finally!

"Fuzzy!"

His relief was shortlived. A fraction of a second later, the world had grown. Or, as evidenced by the purple, exposed fur he was now sporting, he had been transformed into one of those squirrels she so adored. "Squeak squee squee, Squeak!" he demanded, his threatening now more useless than before. He should have seen this coming. Lulu might not have killer instinct, but her magic was strong and her persistence unbendable. If he didn't want to fight, she'd make him.

The yordle-turned-squirrel manages a hiss, his point evident despite the language barrier she'd forced upon him.

"Oooh tsk, that's no way to talk, Mr. Fuzzy," she shook her head slowly, eyes closed. "Now. If you don't want to tell me, that's okay. We all have our secrets. I just don't think it's fair to cancel our plans without an explanation!"

"Squeak squeak sque-" right. Useless. Though somehow he had the feeling that even should he had said it in plain language it wouldn't get through to her. They had made no plans. They never made plans. She was the one stalking him through his forest nearly every Tuesday.

"I'm going to release you so you can talk, okay?" A moment later the spell lifted, Veigar returning to his usual yordle stature.

A choice word was thrown her way, making her gasp and shake her head again, a stubborn pout setting in. The fairy creature made a show of threatening gestures with its arms, but only served as an act of comedy due to his minute size.

"If you won't tell me, fight me!" she demands, apparently reaching her limit.

"Fight? I thought it was play time for you," he huffs, rolling his eyes as he set forward once more. He fully expected her to attack again, but he may as well make some distance in the mean time.

"Whoever said they weren't the same?" A stinging blast of glitter accompanied her odd taunt, followed by another, then another.

The next few moments were a mad jumble of stuns, slows, and glittering purple attacks. While he could go on almost endlessly with his fast-charging mana pool, Veigar had long-since grown weary. He had things to do, evil plans to make. Perhaps if he just ended it already. Put the crazed yordle out of her misery. But, he grimaced as he realized, he had already gone through this. She was a champion at the League. Not to mention, no real threat, only a real annoyance. It would be a waste of his power to-

Veigar's thoughts and rhythm are interrupted when all at once he was knocked to the ground, staff clattering beside him. She hung over him like a feral cat, bare hands narrowly avoiding his spiked armor as he glared upwards. "Would you kindly get off of me?" he shrieked, turning them over so he would dominate instead.

The girl laughed in response. "That was fun!"

Taken aback by her cheer, she was easily able to turn him back again with the help of her glittery slowing attack.

That's when it all went downhill… in the most literal sense. Pushing her off to turn on top once more, the two reached the hidden edge of the cliff. Tumbling, the girl let out a small shriek of fear, clinging tightly to her opponent. Landing with a clatter, their hold on each other released only after instinct allowed.

Veigar was the first to stand, the girl rubbing her sore, hatless head while blinking as her fairy buzzed down to fuss over her. "What just-?"

" _You_ pushed us off that cliff!" Veigar growled, gauntleted hand thrust upwards to point to where he had spoken of. Truth be told, the word cliff might have been a little strong. The grade wasn't so steep that they shouldn't be able to manage their way back up . Hopefully.

Her sight followed his finger… then back to where he stood glaring at her menacingly. It was then the girl's face changed from confusion to pure awe as she stared at him.

"… What?" he snapped, staring right back.

"…. Nothing~" humming, the girl, clambered to her feet as the fairy completed one last lap around her before landing behind her ear.

Veigar's eyes rolled, thoroughly exasperated by the girl at this point. Now, where was his staff? … The top of the hill, of course. He hadn't had it on him on his way down. Though _of course_ Lulu's had made the tumble. He begins looking around more, just in case when-

"Hi!" the girl was mere inches from his face, covered in dirt with a few minor scratches. She was still oddly fascinated as before. What was she on? And why hadn't he bothered to remove her?

"…"

Her giddy expression softened slightly. Inexplicably, he found her finger hovering just above his eyes and it finally clicked. His hat. He growled, jerking back before she could make contact. "No. No no no, you will never speak of this, do you hear me, girl?"

She blinked, hand dropping. "But Veeeigar, you look so much better like this! Why do you hide?"

He was searching wildly for his hat. Clearly it hadn't completed the fall. Scanning the brush and trees on the hill a tuft of blue feathers stuck out, marking where to go. "I don't want to look better, fool!" he snaps at her, looking angrier than before. She had seen him. Fur, scars, and all.

"What's that even supposed to mean?" she follows after him, grabbing her hat and whimsying up the hill effortlessly floating beside him.

While her question had merit, his exclamation had been a gut reaction more than anything, he did not care to answer. Instead, Veigar grasped at a root a short ways up.

"It didn't make any sense!" she continues to chide him.

Of course she wouldn't drop it. "It means," he hissed, "that my appearance is none of your business." His hold slipped, sending the yordle sliding several feet. "Gah!"

"Hmmm," Lulu came to land on a large rock half way up. "You want your hat back, right?"

He grumbled something unintelligible in response.

"Probably your staff back too, huh? And return to the path so you can get to your very important cupcake heist you were planning."

"I wasn't going to steal any cupcakes," he growled upwards, reaching the spot he had been in before. Now, if he only went for this root instead, perhaps he could make it this time.

"Hey!"

Startled, he missed, slipping once more. "WHAT?!"

"I asked you a question, Mr. Grumpy-pants."

"What?"

Tutting, she shook her head. "I only thought that maaaybe you'd like a little help. But not if you're going to be mean," she pouted, sitting herself with legs and arms crossed.

Would he accept help? Probably, if she had given it wordlessly. But to make him beg? "I don't need your help."

"Sure you don't."

He was almost to the same spot again. This time, this time he would succeed in climbing it. Just a little further and… there! Grinning, Veigar pulled the rest of his body up to the next handhold, finding a solid enough landing for his feet. "Yes! Hahahaha!"

Veigar continued upwards, paying the girl no mind until he was level with her, and only then to spare her a wary glance at her slack-jawed expression. She had been silent for a short while now. Odd. After passing her by, a rush of wind from behind could be felt as the girl shouted out, "Zippy!" She stopped by his hat, pulling it out for herself. "I've always like your hat," she grinned, looking it over, and under, and all around before dropping it on her head. The enchantment kicked in, darkening her face and brightening her already bright green eyes.

"Leave it alone, girl!"

"I have a name, you know," she mutters, pouting slightly as she took it off.

"I fail," a reach for the next branch, "to see the relevance."

"I call you by your name. Or would you rather me just call you, say…" she pauses to think, "Kitty!"

A disgusted sound comes forth. She wouldn't dare.

"Kitty it is!"

… of course she would dare. She knew no fear.

"Fine, _Lulu_. Drop the hat!"

"Okay!" The girl grinned, dropping his hat back into the bush… to watch it tumble all the way down the hill.

…

"LULU!"

For the briefest of moments, a stricken look of panic crossed the girl's face. "I'll get it, I'll get it, don't worry! Just just um keep climbing up, okay? Don't worry!" With that, Lulu zipped back down, then up, dropping the hat at the top next to his staff. Clearly she could have made the trip a hundred times over in the time it was taking him. "See! Easy. It's safe up here. Now we just need to get you up too! Sure you don't want the spell?"

"I'm sure I'll never need _your_ brand of help again."

"Okay~"

For the next few minutes, there was blessed silence as Veigar climbed. Lulu lay at the top, her own hat retrieved and resting where it belonged. Her eyes closed, resting as she waited. When he surfaced, covered in dirt and fresh scratches, he marched directly to collect his belongings. By the time Lulu looked up, his face was already veiled. "Aww," she pouted in disappointment.

His eerie glowing eyes looked to her on the ground sharply, then away. There was no reason to bother with her now. "Never again," he reminds her.

"Never what?"

He summoned an event horizon as he hobbled off, holding it as long as he could to prevent her from following. Never again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Veigar could be such a spoilsport, but deep down Lulu didn't really mind. Despite his harsh way of speaking, the mage was one of the few who was always willing, (with some encouragement) to play with her. Never once off the League's battlefields had the yordle come anywhere near truly damaging her. He could if he chose to. But he didn't. To her, that spoke volumes.

Every Tuesday at one-thirty, just as the time was starting to taste like celery and peanut butter, Veigar passed by her favorite log in the woods. He often did this on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and all sorts of days as well, but… Tuesdays were blue and that matched Veigar's robes. Naturally, that was the day she made plans to play with him.

The fallen tree was beautiful, with all sorts of knobbly twists and turns and colorful shelf fungi. Lulu added to its whimsical nature, magicking all sorts of flowers. When sunlight dappling through the foliage the image was perfect. The bright array of colors, tastes, and smells almost made her feel like she was back in the Glade.

Today was Wednesday, a brilliant shade of orange. As it was, there was no need to play with her friend. Lulu wasn't dense enough to believe that he would, even should she make herself visible. Yesterday had been quite the event, and there was no doubt Veigar still needed to cool down from what had happened. She smiled softly as she heard him approaching, peaking through the leaves of a bush beside the path. The yordle appeared to be in deep concentration, unaware as he usually was that he was being spied upon. For someone who claimed to be so evil, she knew he really needed to work on that. Villains weren't supposed to be surprised when ambushed on a regular basis.

Lulu sighed, imagining the possible expressions Veigar might be making. Of course the one time she had been lucky enough to see under his hat he refused to show anything but his grumpy face. All except for that one blessed moment when he had laughed in his pride of climbing up the hill. That smile… … Lulu shook herself out of the daze, realizing as Pix questioningly poked her cheek that Veigar had passed by and out of sight. Depending on if this were to be a simple walk or a secret trip to Bandle City, it could be a mere half hour to hours until he came back this way. It was unfortunate that his return schedule wasn't nearly as predictable as his departure.

Not that this really mattered. Today was a Wednesday, and orange was not a color to be dampened by grumpiness.

"Let's play!" she cheers to Pix, skipping off with her staff to begin one of her many fairy games.

As the hours wore on, Lulu paid little attention to the time. Time was a funny thing like that, having little use aside from admiring its flavors when there was nothing to look forward too. Only when she felt the teleportation crystal in her pocket begin to warm up did she stop to realize how late it had gotten. Casting a quick spell as she took hold of the crystal, the smell of apples and brown sugar overwhelmed her. Three thirty-five. Delicious. Moments later the crystal's spell took effect, transporting her to the red side platform of Summoner 's Rift.

The sweet taste of chocolate was stronger than usual. A quick check confirmed its actual presence in cupcake form; Caitlyn would be her marksman. Also present were Vi, Singed, and Veigar. The latter seemed none-too-happy to have been summoned as he grumbled to himself in his usual shrieking tones.

"Veeeigar~!" she cheered, grinning as his head snapped her way. He smelled particularly good this game, wearing his white and red robes. "I'll be in the bottom lane this game. Good luck mid!" Lulu took off on her staff, the usual trail of flowers left behind as she headed into the jungle.

Throughout the game, the purple yordle's mood was eerily good. Explosive bouts of giggles came and went and the strangest at times. Caitlyn did not seem to mind too much… their laning opponents were largely incompetent anyway. Even when Blitzcrank finally did manage to land a grab, Lulu easily turned Lucian into a squirrel and made a clean getaway. Truly, nothing of note happened until after the enemy tower had gone down and she and Caitlyn began to roam.

The two reached the middle lane just in time watch an overenthusiastic Katarina attack Veigar under his tower. He had been biding his time, growing his power minion by minion. A stun and a primordial burst later, he turned to see Lulu and Caitlyn step out of the brush. "Yaaay!" Lulu squealed, clapping enthusiastically at his success. She could imagine it now, that amazing grin of his beneath the hat. Veigar was laughing as beautifully as ever. Lulu giggled softly, hurrying over to where he stood.

His laugh stopped abruptly, sensing his teammate beside him. "… Why are you in my lane?" he asked coldly.

"To help you get mid tower, of course~" she stated in her sing-songy voice.

Caitlyn went straight to farming after dropping her trinket ward on the opposite side of the river.

"My farm!" he snarled, just missing at hit that went to Caitlyn on a cannon minion. "That one was worth double the power. Out!"

Caitlyn rolled her eyes, turning away after stealing one more blessed minion. "Come on, Lulu. It's time to fight the Dragon anyway."

"But um… um, tower… oh fine," she left Veigar's side to help secure the buff.

The game was an overall steal, Veigar and Lulu's team out damaging the helpless enemy from an early point and snowballing from there. It was after the match, as everybody prepared to teleport themselves off the field that Lulu finally pulled through on her unspoken promise to annoy Veigar.

"That was such a great game!" Lulu cheered, twirling circles around her friend. "Our lane went so well and the one time Blitz was all, 'exterminate!' and actually made a grab I just, poof! Squirrel," she giggles, slowing to look Veigar over. … he did not look impressed. "And you fought Katarina so well! I don't know why everyone's so afraid of her, with your abilities it must have been easy to stop her."

The shape of his eye changed just slightly, and Lulu imagined there to be more of a smile hidden beneath. "She was rather clumsy, wasn't she? Though the others fear her because they lack my raw power!" an evil chuckle.

Lulu just smiled. "And my polymorph!"

"… yes, I suppose that too," he admitted, recalling one of the final teamfights.

"Hey. Hey, Veigar, I wanted to ask if you were able to finish your secret plan after last time when I saw your-"

A short growl later, he moved towards her. Amber eyes attempting to be threatening. "I told you to never speak of that again!"

"Oh. Oh, right. Uh, is it going to be a problem if I already told someone that-"

"Who?!" Veigar demanded, beside himself. "I should have known you'd never-"

"Pix, silly," Lulu rolled her eyes, twirling around. "Of course I didn't tell anyone." Leaning out on her staff for support, the girl stuck out her tongue. On top of her head, Pix does the same. "Though," the cheerful demeanor is dropped as she pauses to add a thought. Veigar began marching away to the platform, taking out his teleportation crystal. "I don't still see why you hide," she finishes.

A glare backwards is all he gives.

"Really! I think you're handsome, even with all those sca-" Lulu found the large gauntlet over her mouth before she could finish. She hadn't been aware he could even move that fast. "Mwrt?" Eyes wide, her question is muffled.

"Never. Mention. Those. Again," he hisses, still holding his hand in her way.

"Ut meh ach oo ugh ool."

Even under the hat's enchantment, Veigar was clearly confused. Lulu waited patiently while Pix leapt from her hat to Veigar's. Flittering around and yanking on the feathers, Pix got his attention. Veigar's hand shot up to swat the fairy away, but Pix dodged.

"I said," she haughtily stated now that she was free to talk, "that they make you look cool." That much was obvious. Besides, didn't he want to look evil? Scars had a habit of making people look tough.

"Tch," he hisses, moving away to the platform again. "You know nothing."

"Neither do you!" she shouts back, pouting still.

"Girl, just-"

"Kitty."

A brief pause. Then,"… _Lulu_. Would you kindly leave me alone?" he asked in what was clearly meant to be his most polite attempt at shutting her down. "Your compliments are unwanted."

As the teleport began to overtake him, Veigar's final view of the Rift would of a surprisingly threatening green-eyed glare.

"… He's starting to upset me, Pix," she pouted once they were alone.

Said fairy landed on her staff, looking to her with pity. "I don't know why you try."

For a moment, Lulu wasn't sure why she did either. Were all her attempts to make him smile really worth the verbal abuse? Had even a moment of their time together been appreciated? Perhaps not, but… "Because we're the same," she finally responded, watching Pix from the corner of her eye. He seemed to understand, knowing when none others could not. Her crystal was retrieved and her eyes closed, willing it to bring her home.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

The girl had struck a nerve. Multiple nerves, in fact. He had already understood that the Fae Sorceress was unlike the other useless yordles with her cheerful insanity and bravery bordering on naivety, but this…

"Gah!" he shouted to himself as the teleport completed to where he had directed. To think she would dare to comment on his scars. Veigar tossed his gauntlets to his bed, glaring out the window as he did so. The sun was getting low, but some hours would still remain in the day. Below he could see the expanse of the forest from his fourth-story tower. Somewhere out there, that purple monstrosity was likely skipping around making friends with chipmunks and turning them into cupcakes.

The yordle turned away from the window, digging recklessly through the bottom drawer of his dresser across from the bed. It didn't take long to find, the old mirror. It was one of those things that had been in the library when he discovered the building so many years ago. He hadn't quite the heart to toss it away. Perhaps it was a matter of superstition… if so, that was a flaw he'd have to correct. Out came the ornate mirror, raised eye-level by his bare, scarred hands. Unnaturally bright amber eyes shone back, a sight that should put fear into the hearts of any mortal. Should.

Placing the mirror at the top of his dresser, Veigar slowly removed his enchanted hat. What remained was the shell of a yordle. Dull, black fur marred by three sizeable scars on his face along with a knick in his right ear. Lifeless amber eyes. Typical, childish yordle head-shape. He looked weak. Weak and pathetic and certainly not one of those ridiculous things the crazed girl had claimed. Cool? Handsome? Tossing superstition aside he swung at the mirror, sending it toppling to the ground where it shattered. There had been a reason it was hidden away from the start.

Veigar barreled through the doorway to his study downstairs, shoving the comforting hat back on. There was one way to prove himself powerful, and that was to continue his plan. He knew that at his next chance to teleport he really should go directly to Piltover. He might have even gone tonight if Lulu hadn't distracted him. But no matter, he would use the time to prepare. A fresh, new pile of Bandle City newspapers from the last week sat on his desk, ready to be explored.

Scanning first the headlines, the articles were sorted, read, and… for the most part, trash. But a few useful gems caught his eye, verifying what he had initially thought. He would find exactly what he needed in the City of Progress.

Unfortunately, Veigar's chance to make use of the League's teleportation crystals would not come for several days. The yordle kicked himself for not taking advantage the last time his chance came around. He would not allow himself to be distracted again.

It was on Friday that Veigar was finally summoned to the Freljord. As luck would have it, the summons came just as the yordle had sat down to eat breakfast. He was none-too-pleased but took it for what it was: a chance to make use of the League's power. Typically, battles on the bridge spanning the Howling Abyss went fairly well for Veigar. It wasn't difficult to make use of the narrow field with an event horizon. A good stun could spell the death of nearly any soul caught out. There were disadvantages though, namely in respect to the lackluster minion farm… but even an inexperienced summoner could usually make use of his abilities.

It was to his dismay, then, when the battle went horribly wrong. His summoner had allowed the enemy Teemo to kill him countless times. This was the last champion he wished to give an ego boost. … The humiliation stung more than the physical pain. But he suffered through it and when his team's nexus fell, Veigar was finally able to teleport to Piltover.

The crystal deposited him in a pleasant place of memory, the edge of a lush park with a perfect view of Piltover's skyline. Towering ahead was the center of the city, set high above like some temple of progress. Everything about its design was clearly meant to impress and inspire, from the large clockwork cogs to the clean-yet-intricate construction.

There was once a time when Veigar stood here in awe, admiring the sheer vastness and beauty of the city before him. He had been young and naive, entirely unaware of what would shortly befall him. Now the jaded yordle could see the city for what it was: a showy means to acquire power through technology.

Whipping the newspaper clipping out of his tunic he scanned the article once more. Around him, people brushed by unaware or uncaring of the small personage shrouded in darkness. The presence of Yordles in Piltover had grown rapidly in the past years since his first arrival. The city had been welcoming of Heimerdinger's pupils, all-too-happy to steal their technology for themselves.

The article clearly stated that Professor Heimerdinger's latest invention would be on display at the Yordle Academy of Science and Progress for the next month days before being transferred back to his workshop. The Academy was located a short walk away, but the tempting smell fresh tuna caused Veigar's empty stomach to rumble. Perhaps a detour would be in order…

As he shifted through Piltover's crowded streets, Veigar followed the delicious smell to a market stand. For a fraction of a moment the yordle considered doing the right thing, even reaching his hand into his tunic for the coins he had saved for just this purpose but… why? When the salesman chanced to look down the road the opposite way he slipped two cuts off the tray and slunk away with glee.

"Hehehehe," he chuckled to himself in what he was sure sounded quite evil, chomping on the first of the pieces. If anyone thought the little yordle in a spiky wizard's hat might be a little strange, they didn't say anything.

It was just before the second bite, however, that it happened.

A large BOOM reverberated through the city, followed by another. Shrieks were heard, shops were packed up, and a total of three wretched humans had the gall to trip on him as they ran from the apparent explosions. The remainder of his meal was trampled on in the crowd's hurry to get away. The blasts continued, but mostly Veigar was just angry that his attempt to eat had been foiled again. Pulling himself to a stand after the third fall, the Master of Evil looked up in hopes to see who had caused this disaster. With no immediate culprit in site, he turned to the one remaining human in the street. "You!" he shouted threateningly, sending his most evil of glares his way. "What do you know of this?"

The merchant, pushing his cart into an alleyway, didn't seem to notice the glare. "You better get out of here quickly, little guy."

Veigar's left ear twitched. "Why? Is this a regular occurrence?"

The man barely glanced at the yordle as he locked the cart up. "It's that Jinx again. Now shoo, go hide." Another boom sent the merchant scurrying.

If this really was Jinx's doing, revenge would have to wait. There was only so much he could do to another League champion before getting kicked out of the program. Veigar took the man's advice and left, if only to take advantage of the chaos the crazed woman had created. Unsure of how long it would last he hopped the stretch needed to reach the academy. The walkways were expectantly deserted but the inner halls would be the true test. For now he kept outside, glancing at the building names as he ran by.

The hallways were nearly silent, aside from the occasional yelp of fear or anger and distant booming of Jinx's latest assault. From the closed doorways of classrooms the whirring of gears and clashing of metal made it unclear if its occupants were either continuing their lessons as planned or prepping to join the fray. A few voices sounded as if they might be familiar but Veigar thought it best not to stray from the goal of observing the machine without being observed himself.

At long last, he dove in, finding the perfectly vacant display room of Heimerdinger's Carrier Ultra-Load 8th-Type Robot.

Veigar stood in awe, genuinely impressed by the sheer size of the machine. The minuscule photograph in the Bandle City newspaper he had stolen off Teemo's front porch did not do it justice. The shiny blue platform at the top took up half the room and three enormous hydraulic adjustable stabilizing legs could unfold to stand several stories tall. Four sets of drone blades large enough to lift the heavy weight. The red, rubber-coated, oversized crane in the center? Taking a quick look either way to ensure he was still alone first, Veigar climbed over the rope to look straight up into the mechanical monster. Perfect. Absolutely perfect for the job that needed to be done.

... Unfortunately, there was no possible way he could learn to control this thing without years of study. The Master of Evil hated it admit it to even himself, but it looked like he would need to find an accomplice if this plan were to work. Was it even worth it?

It was quiet now. As the realization of this struck him, Veigar hopped out and away from the machine. While it might not have been the most suspicious of things to be noticed observing the CUL8TR from a distance in a crowd of Yordles and humans alike, he was not yet ready to be tied to crime he was still devising. He hurried back out into the hall, passing the same noisy classrooms as before. Just as he turned to exit a final, much louder explosion was to be heard.

Veigar whipped around, his gauntlets subconsciously lifted high over his hat to press against where his ears lay hidden. Had Jinx attacked the building or…? A plume of smoke rushed out of the door opening across the hallway. Coughing, gagging, and the annoyed grumble of yordles joined the exit, hardly noticing Veigar's presence as they brushed past him. Perhaps if he snuck out the opposite direction they wouldn't-

"That was perfect!" A fur ball of maniacal glee burst from the smoky room, jittering with excitement. His colleagues groaned in response, making it clear to all they vehemently disagreed. "Well, maybe not perfect for _this_ experiment," Ziggs amended, "but just think if I had connected the capacitor to a shorter fuse and used it to-" the Dean of Demolition stopped, noticing as the air cleared that his intended audience had completed their journey outside, leaving only the shadowy figure with a tall wizard's hat in the distance. "…Veigar!"

The mage cringed. The moment he realized it was Ziggs's explosion that had sent the researchers running, Veigar knew he should do the same. The Master of Evil wanted nothing to do with being placed at the Academy by a League associate, or to be around the champion's famous explosives. Yet here he was, clearly recognized.

Ziggs leapt to catch up, forgetting his experiment for the time being. "What's a yordle like you doing a place like this?" The question came without much judgment, only curiosity.

"League business, nothing you need to worry about," came Veigar's reply as he continued to hop away. How much further until the next exit?

"Oooh with who?" Ziggs laughed, walking beside him. "Heimer's back in his lab if you're looking for him."

Hesitating, Veigar glanced over. Maybe Ziggs could be useful after all… "Oh? And where exactly might that be?"

"South side of campus, big red door, blue sign. You can't miss it. What did you need him for anyway?"

"Don't you have an experiment to clean up?"

Ziggs snorted, "I don't clean. I make things go kaBoom! Nah, someone else will take care of it."

"Tch," Veigar gritted his teeth, speeding up. Apparently it wouldn't be that easy to brush the yordle off. "My business is done here. Get back to your presentation!"

Ziggs must have been satisfied, or at least bored, seeing as he sped off to return to his project. Veigar breathed a sigh of relief, but he knew the danger wasn't over. Until his plan reached its finale, no one could know of his involvement.

It seemed clear now that one accomplice wasn't going to be enough. Fortunately, for this new part he knew exactly who he needed. The problem was that the loss his breakfast would have to wait to be avenged.

* * *

 **an:** A BIG thanks to my Beta Reader, Oceanbourne, for helping me work out some of the kinks in this chapter. I'm very grateful for his help as well as the kind reviews many of you have sent. Your feedback is appreciated!


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

When Veigar did not show up for his daily walk on Friday, Lulu did not think much of it. After all, it wasn't _always_ daily. Besides, she had games to play and a forest full of magical energy to explore. But when Veigar failed to make an appearance Saturday, Sunday and even Monday the girl knew something must be terribly wrong.

"Where could he have gone, Pix?" Lulu waited with anxious anticipation at her usual spot. Lulu could almost taste the celery as she checked the time. 12:58pm. In theory, Veigar should pass by within the hour but already the girl was losing heart. "Do you think something happened to him? Did he change what time he took his walk?" She had waited through many flavors yesterday to test that very theory.

Pix fluttered down from her hat to her staff, shaking his head. "It isn't even 1:30 yet, you shouldn't worry."

"But he never misses so many days in a row. Never!" her arms flailed up, her head shaking around in a way that made Pix very glad he had changed location.

"Lulu. Lulu," he fluttered up, trying to get her attention. "Let's just get through today, alright? If he doesn't come you could always ask the League for help."

"But…" Lulu sighed. "Ooookay."

The two hours came and went; peanut butter and apples never tasted so bitter. Lulu might have stayed the rest of the day had she not received a summons at 3:30 to fight on the Rift.

The light, familiar scent of rain filled Lulu's mind as she materialized on the blue side platform of Summoner's Rift. The hope she had held out that perhaps Veigar was summoned too was quickly dashed as she looked to see who their laning opponents would be. At this rate she would never see him again. Pix, seeming to read her mind, rested on her shoulder, patting it with care. "I'm sure he's fine."

He was right, she decided. It was play time. The battlefield was no place to get distracted. Lulu quickly bought and hurried off to help Lee Sin start against his jungle minions before moving to the top lane to face her opponent.

Across the lane, the whirring of Rumble's junkyard-built mechanical suit could be heard before it was even seen. Lulu arrived just as the first wave of blue minions were torched to their end. … it was a shame that he had an early start on minion farming, but Lulu would be sure to make up for it. The first few levels went by for the two in relative silence. Lulu and Pix poked, Rumble clung to his tower for safety. Really, this part of the laning phase was just so… so, "boring," she whined out-loud, causing Rumble to blink.

"What is? Poking me under tower?" the hint of annoyance in his tone went over Lulu's head.

"Yes! … no. I don't know," she admitted.

His response was an electro harpoon shot her way.

She dodged it easily enough. "Hey, Rumble?"

A second harpoon was shot, this one meeting its mark as she was caught in the minion wave. "What?"

"Ouch! Oh uh, have you seen Veigar since Friday?"

"Veigar?" Even from the distance up high on his mech suit, Lulu could see the yordle scrunch up his nose in distaste. "I haven't had a match with him in weeks. I'd be happy to see it go a month or so more."

Lulu whimsied back to place a ward in the river brush before resuming her onslaught. When Rumble pushed out in her absence, Lulu returned with a full combo to finish him off. Easy~!

Unfortunately for Lulu, the game did not continue to go quite so well. By the time Rumble gained his equalizer she couldn't keep up without help from Lee Sin. Even without his red buff (lovingly stolen by a certain sightless monk), Jax was able to gank her lane with ease. Even with her Jinx and Nami's amazing laning phase, their team simply could keep up against a fed Rumble, Jax and Talon. One failed baron steal and it was all over for Lulu's team.

The game had been a disappointment, and Rumble's lack of help in finding Veigar even more so. But as the champions grouped to teleport home Lulu figured she'd give it one last try. Only a few champions remained, including Rumble, Lucian, Jinx, and Lux.

"Um, hey! Hey, Rumble!" She whimsied to catch up with him.

The Mechanized Menace turned back to face her. "Did you need something, Lulu?"

"Will you please let me know if you _do_ see him? Okay?"

"See who?"

Lulu frowned. How could he have already forgotten? "Veigar, of course! He's been missing for days!"

"Right… Of course."

He didn't sound too convincing, but Lulu let it slide.

"Wait, little purple thing! Did you say you were looking for Vei-Vei?" a shrill, female voice came up from behind, nearly knocking into Rumble's suit as she came to a stop. Jinx grinned, squatting down to meet Lulu at eye-level.

"Have you seen him?!" Lulu's mood instantly brightened. Even Pix seemed to have more energy, hovering back and forth now between her hat and staff. "Is he okay? Where? When? Did you have a match with him? Did he win?"

"Guess so. Piltover. Three days ago. Nope. Aaand never!" Jinx laughed counting off on her fingers as she followed Lulu's rapid questioning.

"Are you sure? What was he doing there? Are Saturdays in Piltover yellow too? And of course he wins sometimes!" she fired back her responses, easily keeping track of the conversation.

The same could not be said for Rumble, who was watching distaste and confusion.

"As good as the weirdo ever is. Not telling. Whatever color I want them to be. And not most of the time."

"He's not that weird! Why not? You can't change day colors. You're silly, he destroyed you in that game two weeks ago."

"I'm bored." Jinx stated suddenly, laughing air ceasing. "Anyway. He was in Piltover three days ago, hopping around with some yucky-smelling fish. I got bored, just like now. So I left. He's fine! Too-da-loo!" Just like that, Jinx was gone.

Lulu stared where the strange lady had been standing. What had caused her to leave so suddenly? "Hmmmm…." She hummed out loud, about to ask Pix what he thought before glancing up to the forgotten mech suit and accompanying yordle. Their eyes met, and Rumble quickly turned away. "Wait! Wait, hey, Rumble!" If he had stayed this long, maybe he'd stay longer!

He sighed, but did as requested.

"I had a thought," she starts. Veigar might have been fine, but he still wasn't here. That being the case… "I thought maybe we could talk!"

"Uh okay. … why?" He seemed a bit twitchy, but Lulu didn't mind.

"It's Tuesday."

"I guess so. But what does that-"

"Well, you're blue, right?" she cut him off before he could finish. "So I thought maybe we could hang out."

Rumble gave a look of clear confusion as he brought Tristy to a stop next to the Blue platform. "Don't know what you're on about, Lulu, but I can promise you I'm just fine."

"I never said you weren't?" Lulu blinked, scurrying over to stand near the hulking mech suit.

Unable to face her properly with her directly below, Rumble jumped out, landing with practiced grace… before stumbling to the ground. "You just said," he stood, dusting himself off,"I was blue."

"Yeah, you are." Lulu screwed up her nose in confusion. How did Rumble not know what color his fur was?

"No, I'm fine, really."

"Did you get hit too hard on the head at the end of the game? Here, maybe you should," Lulu yanked his arm, guiding him to the summoning platform. "… better?"

"Can I go now?"

"Tell me first."

Rumble took a deep breath, running a gloved hand over his mohawk as he gathered what little patience remained. "Tell you _what?_ "

"What color you are, of course!"

"…"

"…"

"…You're talking about my fur, aren't you?" Rumble stated deadpan as the realization finally caught up with him.

"Ooobviously!" Lulu rolled her eyes, tutting. What else could she possibly have meant? "Remember? Because it's Tuesday?"

Rumble stepped off the platform to walk back to his machine. "I'm not even going to try to figure that one out."

It was clear that he was done, something Lulu did not like. "Wait!" First Veigar ups and leaves her for Piltover, and now Rumble thought she was crazy. "Where are you going?"

"The garage. I have a lot of work I'd like to finish tonight," he stated as he marched, not looking back.

Taking her chance, Lulu tried her best to find something to talk about. "Oh? What are you working on?"

"I doubt it's anything you'd be interested in, Lulu." Rumble waved his hand dismissively. He may have had a point, but Lulu wasn't about to admit to that.

"I'm interested in lots of things!"

Raising an eyebrow, Rumble turned, leaning back against the leg of his suit with his arms crossed. "Okay. If you must know, I'm working on developing a manual cooling system for Tristy so I can better control when exactly my-" Blah blah blah… Lulu's eyes wandered up to the cockpit, a thought entering.

"Can I try on Tristy?!" Controlling the giant machine sounded a lot more fun than hearing the yordle go on about fixing it. In moments she was halfway up the leg… then unceremoniously yanked down.

"No, no no no no," he held her shoulders firmly, looking the girl directly in the eye. "Just, no. No one else drives Tristy, okay?"

"But-" Lulu sniffled. Now he was mad at her. Why was it that all the other yordles got angry when she was around? She only wanted to play… with the suit… really badly.

"No."

Unbidden, Lulu felt the glimmer of tears forming. She knew she shouldn't be so upset, it was just a suit. But somehow this felt like it was about something more.

Rumble backed away in a panic, entirely unsure of what to do. "Don't, no don't do that. Don't cry! Uh, look, Lulu…"

"What?" she sniffed pathetically.

"You're a…" he hesitated briefly, "… nice… yordle and all so don't take this personally but I don't let _anyone_ touch Tristy's controls. I mean, you wouldn't want someone messing around with your magical staff or hat or-"

That was all the invitation she needed. In the blink of an eye, Rumble found Lulu's ridiculously large hat as well as her staff shoved into his arms. A trail of flowers floating in her wake lead his eyes to one very purple yordle in the cockpit of his beloved Tristy.

Shaking with excitement, Lulu moved to test out the large lever on the left. As the enormous mace began to rise, Lulu felt the familiar buzz of her teleportation crystal. "… oh. I get to play again!" she shouted down to Rumble, who was halfway up the leg of his suit to kick her out.

His grumpy face shifted to one of pure disappointment.

"Don't worry! I'm sure you'll get summoned again soon," she tried to comfort him as he reached the top.

Rumble's arm jutted outward and down, pointing her to leave. "That's not the problem."

"Oh?" Lulu blinked, pulling out her crystal to prepare.

The blue yordle sighed a long sigh, pulling out a crystal of his own. "Just teleport already, will you?"

"Aaaalrighty!" Lulu grinned, thrilled that she might have a chance to play a game against Rumble again. Maybe she was making a new friend afterall.

As she faded away, Rumble's gloved hand came to his mohawk once more. "Why me?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Piltover had almost been more trouble than it was worth. If Veigar had thought he waited long for his chance to investigate, he had to wait longer to leave. The first evening had been spent pleasantly enough; sneaking into Heimerdinger's workshop to make copies of the CUL8TR's blueprints. But extensive study of the plans made it all the clearer that he was in over his head. Even the shortlist of potential accomplices he compiled was worthless… there were few who would be willing to help Veigar, and even fewer he could trust. The only being that fit both requirements would be utterly useless at the task, though the thought of Lulu piloting a gigantic mechanized carrier was mildly amusing.

Despite this major setback, Veigar went ahead with his plans for Saturday and made contact with the second accomplice he would need to pull off the heist. A chaotic distraction would be in order, and was easily bought with the promise of a second, smaller theft from the office of the Dean of Demolitions. With that taken care of, the yordle was ready to return home to his library of solitude.

That chance would not come for three days. Veigar was bored beyond reason in the little room at the hotel. There were only so many times he could look over the stolen schematics and the locals were generally uninteresting to observe. The evenings brought some solace at the large park he had entered through days before. It was difficult to see through the city's smog, but the star-filled sky was visible all the same. Alone, he waited there, watching the heavens he had admired from childhood.

When the crystal summoned him for a late afternoon match on the Rift, he was more than ready. The Institute of War was the perfect place to release his pent-up frustration. Most matches were exhilarating, win or lose. They were a chance to practice, learn, and destroy without the risk of authorities getting in his way. If only he could harness the battleground's deep magic itself to use on a larger scale. …A teleportation system that sensed and transported any being in imminent danger back to a revival platform. His new world order could use such a thing, a method of preventing murder. It was such thoughts on Veigar's mind when he arrived for the battle. It would seem some Demacian trade agreement had gone sour and what better way to settle it than an epic five on five battle? Veigar snorted as he slipped a Doran's ring on over his gauntlet. This world should burn for its bloodlust. At least it served his purposes.

Veigar only thought to check to see who he would be up against as he passed the first tower outside of the Red base. If anyone had been able to see his face, his wince would have been quite comical. As it was he remained hidden, wondering desperately which of the two female mages would be his laning partner. Reaching his center tower he waited, taking some comfort in that he hadn't heard anything yet. If it were _her_ , surely a laugh would have been heard by now.

As it turned out he was wrong on both accounts. Across the way, Lulu came forward in silence, glaring lightly at him with that silly little pout she loved to give. Somehow, he knew he was in trouble.

"… What? Is there a bug on my hat as well?" he asked, trying his best to pretend her glare hadn't unnerved him.

Lulu turned her head with a little, "hmph," of distaste, but the beginnings of smile as she did so comforted him somewhat. She couldn't have been too angry.

Her fairy, however, seemed to have taken great offense to the minor jab on his part. When Lulu sent him to attack, the fairy buzzed about far more irritably than usual, muttering in whatever ridiculous language fairies spoke in. Good. The fairy reluctantly returned to her side after firing his glitterlance and slowing him.

"Are you going to let your little bug here do all the talking?"He tried again.

"Of course not!" she finally exclaimed, causing Veigar to smirk. About time.

"Well then." Stun. Dark Matter. Baleful strike.

She retaliated, of course. A barrage of Pix's attacks accompanied her own. A polymorph shortly followed as she approached him for her usual combo. "Where were you today?!" she demanded as she sent one last basic attack his way.

"Today?" For the love of… it was Tuesday again, wasn't it? Though it wasn't as if he _never_ missed his walk on Tuesdays, so what was with the attitude?

"Today, yesterday, Sunday, Saturday, and Friday," she adds with a glare and her trademark pout. A basic attack followed this while he was forced to just continue to farm for ability power with his baleful strike.

He gave her a look, one she shouldn't have been able to see, then opened his mouth to respond but was cut off.

"Why so long? And why Piltover?"

He snapped his mouth shut. Really, how did she know these things?

"And why didn't you invite me?"

Of course that's what this ultimately boiled down to. He really should have seen that coming. "My business is my own, girl."

"But _Kitty_ , you missed our play time!"

… right. The Kitty thing. She wasn't going to let that go, was she? "I'm here now, aren't I?" Veigar sighed.

"You know League matches don't count!" despite her words, her tone had a slightly more cheerful edge now with a smile she was failing to keep hidden.

"Close enough," he grinned, chuckling slightly. Now that she was smiling the match would not feel so weird. Maybe now he could finally enjoy the practice.

As the next minute went by, little was said. The two yordles poked and farmed, biding their time to make a first real move towards winning the lane. The occasional eye contact was made, resulting in Lulu giggling every time. Veigar found he didn't mind. Besides, any moment now he'd have his ultimate and-

Out of seemingly nowhere their lane was ganked by his own top laner, Darius. How he had managed to miss that he was coming was beyond him, but here he was, using his ultimate to take down Lulu before Veigar had a chance to do it himself. It was over before he could blink and the yordle was _not_ happy. "Darius!" he all but growled. His higher-pitch voice was no doubt less threatening than he'd like but there was not much he could do about that. "She was _mine_ to kill. What are you doing in my lane?"

Darius shrugged, taking a few of Veigar's precious minions for himself. "Rumble is a tough lane for me. I could either stay and become weaker, or," the man smirked, "take the free kill and get strong."

While logically Veigar understood Darius's actions had more to do with his summoner than not, it was clear the Noxian man had enjoyed it. Besides, he was from filthy Noxus, the worst of Runeterra's offenders. Veigar's own summoner seemed equally upset, doing his best to hit the minions with his baleful strike before Darius could. "Get out of here," he hissed after the last of the minions was stolen.

"Gladly." Darius teleported back to the base after the lane was pushed, Veigar grumbling to himself as he joined him. There was little sense in staying if Lulu was about to return more powerful than him.

By the time Veigar reached the center, Lulu had already pushed her lane to his tower. She looked less-than-pleased. Even though the answer was clear Veigar couldn't help but ask, "What now?"

"That wasn't fair!"

"Of course it wasn't, it was a gank. Tell your summoner to use wards next time."

"That's not what I meant." Already she was harassing him, though she seemed to be saving her whimsy for the right time. "I was having fun playing with _you_ , Veigar. Darius wasn't supposed to come, too!"

"Tch, like you don't want your precious Jarvan's help."

"I don't! This was supposed to be like our normal play time."

She really was a strange girl. What was with this obsession with sparing him every Tuesday? "Look, I didn't even know Darius was coming until you were dead. If I had it my way, we'd have fought one on one."

Veigar received a heartfelt smile in response, the girl finally placated. He'd never understand why these things mattered to her so much but he found himself smiling in return. He had fixed it.

Before long the game shifted, as so many do, to everyone grouping up mid lane. He and Lulu were fairly evenly matched, though with his ability power farm he had a slight edge. Tristana and Leona had done decently against Vayne and Zyra, but the same could not be said for Darius. Despite his frequent jungle raids and the kill against Lulu he was far behind the enemy Rumble. When the yordle runt came to meet them with his rightfully-cocky laugh, his team was smart enough to focus him down. …but not quick enough. Lulu's wild growth saved him just as he was cooling down and Vayne managed to kill the half of the team that Rumble couldn't.

Instead of getting angry, Veigar was rather impressed. Rumble was one of those underplayed champions with a lot of potential… perhaps he should move him further up his list of candidates. Ultimately the Master of Evil was certain Rumble's biggest obstacle would be his senseless, stubborn patriotism. But if he could find a way around that…

The rest of the game was close. With Leona's crowd control, Pantheon's stun, and Tristana's mobility they had a chance... but ultimately the blue team won. As Veigar's nexus began to fall he prepared what he would need to say to win the yordle over.

When the game ended, few champions teleported away. It was just his luck that the one time he desired to stay after only three would leave. Unsurprisingly, Lulu was there, harassing Rumble about something or another. Pantheon and Leona seemed to be deep in conversation. Tristana and Vayne bonded over their difficulties against each other in the bottom lane.

There was no good way to start this conversation with so many present, but if he stood here any longer Lulu was bound to think he was here for her. It was best to just get it over with. Steeling himself first, Veigar hopped over to the yordles just as Rumble chased Lulu as she climbed up into his haphazardly built machine.

"I've told you," Rumble all-but growled as he pulled on her arm. "You can't go in there!" His efforts were meaningless though, with her magic to keep her afloat and slightly larger size.

Lulu laughed, shaking him off as she made herself comfortable in the seat. "I just want to look! I promise I won't touch anything this time." Only she did touch, or sniff at least, one of the controls. "Mmmm chocolate." The fairy seemed to be investigating the opposite side of the cockpit, poking at the panels.

Rumble sat beside her, covering the knob she had been sniffing with his glove. "I'm done, Lulu. Out." His expression was serious to the point of being comical next to Lulu's silly grin. The girl ignored this, reaching to open some panel. Rumble's moves became more frantic, and even though Veigar couldn't clearly see whatever was going on up there it was evident Lulu had found something Rumble did not want anyone to see. A small piece of paper was snatched away, causing Lulu to pout. "Down."

"Fiiiine, if you're going to be such a grumpy face about it." Lulu flipped herself right on over, landing gracefully on her feet, looking up to Rumble. "I promise I won't tell anyone though!" she added with a giggle. She spun around on one foot to skip away and… made eye contact with Veigar.

Shoot. He should have stepped in earlier so it didn't look like he was spying and-

"Veigar!" she grinned, skipping over to him. Above, Rumble sighed in relief at being forgotten.

Putting on his best scowl, Veigar stepped aside. "I'm not here for you," he pushed her gently out of the way as he approached the mech.

This did nothing, as she popped right back to where she had been. "Then who? You never stay after! Then again, you never disappear for five days at a time to visit Piltover so-"

"I'm here for Rumble, obviously," he snorted. "Now why don't you and your bug get lost?" Both Lulu and Rumble appeared distressed at this news. Rumble immediately put his machine into gear, heading for the platform. While this did not surprise him, he wasn't enjoying how difficult they were both making this. "It's important, Rumble," he adds, hoping that would be enough to slow him down as he moved to follow.

Lulu grabbed at his tunic, preventing him from doing just this. "You still haven't apologized!"

"I don't need to!" He turned on her, shaking her grip loose. "You're the one who plans these things without my consent!"

Veigar was vaguely aware that they were beginning to cause a scene with the remaining champions watching. Rumble must have notice too, because his suit was suddenly standing quite still as he rubbed his head awkwardly. Veigar could barely process this though with Lulu making her pathetic little pouty face again.

"Fine!" she shouted. She stood up straight as the fairy landed on her staff. She took a deep breath then… smiled. "Have fun with your new best friend," she stated pleasantly. … only Veigar was fairly certain there was nothing pleasant about it. As she skipped off he decided he'd have to deal with her nonsense later. Whatever was bothering her had nothing to do with him.

Veigar turned to Rumble, who still seemed to be staring off into nowhere. "We need to talk," he shouted up. When this did not get his attention, he summoned a cloud of dark matter above Rumble's head. This seemed to snap him out of it as he dodged just in time.

"What was that for?!" the runt shouted down. "Do you think I'll actually stay for you now? Get lost, traitor."

"Tch," Veigar's fingers twitched. If he was already calling him a traitor, this project was seeming less and less possible. "Just answer me one question."

Rumble pulled the controls to kick them into gear. "Right, like I'd give you the time of day."

"Do you want to get back at Heimerdinger?"

There was a pause. A long pause. "I'll give you ten minutes."

"Half an hour," Veigar bargained immediately. Though that wouldn't be nearly enough to go over the entire plan.

"Fifteen."

He supposed that would have to do, for now. "Then we should begin. Teleport to the large tree in the western field between Bandle City and the forest?"

Rumble gave a nod, looking past Veigar again.

"What?" Without waiting for an answer, Veigar turned his head to see what he was looking at.

"Your little shadow is watching us from behind the base wall," Rumble stated emotionlessly.

A second look proved him to be correct. Of course she was. She was probably spying on him constantly… how else would she have known where he had been? He really would need to be more watchful for her if he wanted to keep his plans secret. "I knew that," he hissed. "Let's just go."

Rumble took one last look towards the other remaining champions then back to Veigar. "You don't have to tell me twice."

* * *

 **an:** I promise Chapter Six will have much more interaction between our favorite yordles. Veigar's just a little distracted by his evil plans.

Also, we still need a Jungler for our all-yordle team!


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Wednesday morning bloomed orange and cheerful, but Lulu did not. The excited babble of squirrels and birds and lemurs outside her window urged the Fae Sorceress to smile but the girl was not having it. Even with her eyes open, her beautiful strawberry waffles managed to taste like black liquorish and her banana-onion juice like broccoli. It wasn't right and it wasn't fair, and the yordle knew exactly whose fault it was.

It was that Rumble. Not only would he not share his mech suit with her, he stole away her only friend. Lulu knew she should be happy that Veigar had finally found a friend but it was tough to swallow that he had found that in someone else. Especially after all her work! No, she could not accept this. "Pix." Lulu looked from where she had been staring at her barely-touched breakfast for the previous four minutes and twenty-six seconds. The fairy moved from where he had been slowly sipping orange juice, landing to the right of her plate. "We're going out today."

The fairy stared for several beats before answering, "Don't we always?"

"Not like this!" Lulu jumped to a stand, grinning for the sake of show. If she played at excitement enough, surely the feeling would rub off on her for real. "This is going to be perfect. We're going to go into the woods,"

"Don't we always?"

"Wait for Veigar,"

"Again, Lulu… I'm not sure how this is any-"

"And follow him home~" she ends with a cheerful twirl.

If Pix found any fault with her plan, he knew better than to argue against his friend.

Lulu could hardly wait for one-thirty. The remainder of the morning was spent transmogulating hers and Pix's appearances, trying to find the look that perfectly matched her mood. When she became bored of that, the girl moved on to redecorating her tree house. At first the couch turned blue. Then deep pink. Then into an oversized banana worthy of a magical-healing-unicorn-goat. Pix tested this out but found he much preferred the original fuzzy red couch to its magical counterparts. Lulu agreed, if only because it ultimately wasn't worth the mana to keep the silly thing transformed.

Eventually, when the clock struck celery, Lulu left her woodland home to track down the Tiny Master of Evil. "I hope he makes it," she pouted to Pix as she waited near her magically gardened log. Already Veigar was six minutes and forty-two seconds late and the fear that he had skipped town again was beginning to overwhelm her.

"I wouldn't worry," Pix answered from high above. His dark, bat-like form hanging upside down from the tree looked slightly out of place against the cacophony of magicked colors. Lulu mused, however, that she looked just as silly in her Wicked clothing. "He's been just as late before."

This was true. Veigar's daily walk had been known to vary in time up to an hour. But with all her fears she was getting impatient! "I knooooow," Lulu moaned, settling herself in as comfortable as she could manage.

Fortunately for Lulu, she only had to wait another fifty-eight seconds before the mage made a showing. He meandered along the path with his usual deep-set invisible thinking scowl firmly in place. Finally relaxing, Lulu smiled now that she knew she hadn't been abandoned in entirety. As Veigar passed she gave a wistful sigh, almost forgetting that she would need to follow him until her fairy-turned bat landed gently on her hand.

Veigar's outing lasted a total of forty-three minutes from the moment she lay eyes on him to when he approached what appeared to be a dilapidated, yet strangely beautiful tower. The immediate area seemed to be devoid of any living plant life but even the twisted, dead trees held their own charm. She felt it fit him, and that's all that mattered. The girl waited a few minutes after he had entered the building before she made to follow.

Entering through the same large wooden door her friend had, Lulu felt a strange fuzzy tingle. She looked to Pix who nodded, seeming to have felt the same thing.

"A dark magic barrier. I don't think he wants visitors."

"Must not have been that dark~" she sung a little louder than she probably should have for sneaking into a self-proclaimed evil mage's home.

Pix landed on her hat, alert as he listened for any sign Veigar had heard. "Keep it down or he'll hear you."

Lulu shrugged, laughing quietly. "Isn't that the point?" Striding into the large open entryway, she passed a dusty desk with a collection of equally dusty old papers alongside a bell. Lighting up her staff with a purple glow, she took a good look the start of a staircase spiral along the outer edge of the circular room. Beneath, curved bookshelves lined the walls. He lived in a library? Shrugging, she looked back to the desk and accompanying bell. "… hmmmm…."

"Don't do it," Pix sighed, knowing already he had lost the battle.

"Maybe if it's just really… really," she paused, lowering her voice to the smallest of whispers, "quiet."

"You know better, Lulu."

She just laughed, raising her hand. "You're probably right!" With one last giggle, she bell was pushed down, chiming a vivid shade of powder blue throughout the room.

A thunk could be heard from the floor above… clearly her presence had been noticed. Now the challenge would be to see how far she could get in before he got to her! Mounting her staff, she vroomed up the staircase to the second level to find a miniature hallway with one door on either side. Dismounting first, Lulu's hand went for the door to the right just as the one of the left opened with a crash. She spun around with an innocent grin to face Veigar. "Hiya!"

He stood tense, angry yellow eyes shining all the brighter in the darkness. Despite being home, he carried his oversized staff. No doubt this was to fight off the perceived intruder. The pose held for several long seconds before finally relaxing. "Dare I ask how you got past the security?" he asked flatly, stepping back into the room he had come from.

Taking this as invitation, Lulu squeezed past him into the small room. It turned out to be a makeshift sort of kitchen. Open shelves clearly meant for books held scattered dishes and food items. A long piece of wood, likely from the side of an old shelf, lay across several shorter ones to make a counter where an uncut fish and a loaf of bread lay side by side. It wasn't much to see, but the thought of food reminded her that she hadn't eaten since her attempt at breakfast that morning. The lighting streaming through open window on the curved portion of the wall reminded her to remove the glowing spell on her staff. It wouldn't be needed here. "Do you mean that fuzzy feeling I got at the door?"

Veigar huffed, clearly unhappy that she had managed to break the barrier without being aware of it. "I swear, you and that ridiculous little bug," he grumbled as he set his staff up against the wall.

Pix flew off her hat, circling Veigar closely with a loud buzz. The yordle swatted as he followed Lulu into the kitchen. Lulu stopped at a small table, leaning her hands against the single wooden chair. "I'm hungry! Snack time, okay Pix?" The fairy dashed back to Lulu, ill-content but equally hungry.

"I believe you're supposed to ask the involuntary host first," Veigar grumbled from somewhere behind her.

"Oh, sorry!" she spun to face him with the purposefully innocent smile once more. "Where were my manners? Would you like something to eat too?"

She could hear his grumble of discontent as she turned away. It served him right, him abandoning her for Rumble.

In the minute she spent rifling around she managed to find a good deal of fish, chicken, and a very questionable jar of dried spiders. She held this out to him with disapproval, shaking her head. "Veigar, you're a yordle, not a bird. Or is this because of the whole kitty thing?"

Veigar snatched the jar away, glass clinking against his gauntlets. "Oh sure, barge into my secret, enchanted house full of dark magic, disarm my traps, raid my kitchen without permission, and ask ridiculous questions about my ingredients!" He set the jar down onto the table with more force than was necessary, taking short, even breaths. The poor guy was probably nearing the limit of his patience. She would need to feed him quicker.

"Well you can't eat that! But um…" she looked at the limited food supply once more, deciding on what was the least offensive. "Here!" The large loaf of bread was tossed onto the table in front of the jar. Pix flew to take one sniff of it and shrugged. It must not have been bad. Just… stale.

"Here what? Do you expect me to slice it for you?" he asked in his usual grumpy little voice.

"No, silly. Watch!" Lulu closed her eyes, conjuring the perfect image in her mind's eye of what she wanted to eat. A moment and a "Transmogulate!" later, six large, beautiful cupcakes had appeared in place of the bread.

There was a moment of silence, then, "Did you just…" he stared at the pink swirls of frosting in disgust, "polymorph my dinner into cupcakes?"

Lulu beamed at this, positively thrilled. "Mhmm! Don't worry though, it'll return to normal later after it's in your tummy so you won't get sick from it. But for now!" The thought of beautifully red chocolate filled her with excitement. She took a large bite of the closest, smearing frosting across her face.

"Tch," he lifted one sample gingerly, almost as if he were afraid to touch it.

"Well? Are you going to try it? I promise it's really good!"

He was still staring the cupcake down, the process helped along by the cupcake's own eyes staring back at him. "… I'm not sure. With you it probably tastes like, I don't know. Green."

Lulu snorted, shaking her head with a giggle. "You're thinking of one o'clock. Well, celery. Same thing. But no, it tastes Purple! And red, of course. And like frosting."

"Of course," Veigar responded dryly, lowering the cupcake just enough to look over to see her. "How could I have been so mistaken?"

"It's okay! Everyone gets things wrong sometimes." Lulu gladly forgave his error despite how silly it was of him to make such a simple mistake. Perhaps any moment now he'd finally try what she had created. She stared.

Veigar stared back.

Her eyes flickered down to the cupcake.

Pix poked at the jar of spiders.

Veigar continued to stare back.

"Ahem~"

"I don't like sweets."

Lulu let out a gasp loud enough to be heard for miles. How could anyone not like sweets? "How? _Everyone_ likes sweets. How could you not like sugar? Are you sure you don't want to try it?" Lulu ran around the table, taking the cupcake from his gauntlet in the process. "I came all the way just to make cupcakes just for you!" A slight fib, but that was beside the point. She raised the cupcake high to his shrouded face where he hoped he could smell it in all its purple and red glory.

After another pause Veigar huffed, turning his head away. "I think it's time you return home, Lulu."

"But-" It had all been in vain, hadn't it? Following here to rekindle their friendship. Lulu's face fell drastically, her sadness from the day before returning. "I… I understand," she stated in a defeated voice. She turned to take her staff from where it lay against the table.

"You do?" Veigar spoke disbelieving.

"Of course," she sniffled, still turned away."You h-have a new friend now. You don't need me anymore." She was embarrassed to be near tears around Veigar, but couldn't help but feel betrayed. She should be happy. Happy he found a friend, even if it wasn't her. There was a long pause as Lulu sniffled again.

"…I… have no idea what you're on about," came his very confused response.

"Rumble!" Lulu all but shouted in frustration, whipping around to face him with unshed tears. "You disappeared for nearly a week and didn't tell me and won't talk about it and only wanted to talk to Rumble!"

Even through the hat's enchantment Lulu was close enough to see the sheer confusion evident through his bespelled eyes. "Uh…" Veigar's already high-pitched voice was somehow higher. "Just so we're on the same page here… Rumble and I are _not_ friends."

"Don't lie to me!" she pouted. "You only wanted him yesterday!"

"That was business! Honestly, Lulu, I don't know how you come up with this nonsense," Veigar snorted. "Rumble and I. _Friends_."

There was something about the way he said it, or maybe his snort of a laugh. She almost believed him. "… really?" Her free arm went to wipe the near-tears away, the other still holding her cupcake.

Veigar let out a long sigh, then with a sudden movement snatched the treat out of her hand and took a bite.

Lulu lowered her sleeve to watch Veigar in disbelief, then with a hint of excitement. "Do you like it?"

"It's very…" he paused, evidently choosing his words carefully. "Sweet."

She'd take it. Like a switch, Lulu's joy and energy fully returned along with a brilliant smile. "I told you that you'd like it!"

He took another bite, further proof that he must not have _loathed_ the treat.

"So," now that she had that taken care of she could move on to her true purpose. "What are we doing today? Are you going to work on your secret plan? What is it? Can I help? What does Rumble get to do?"

"What? No," he placed the remainder of the cupcake down onto the table. "I can't risk telling people who aren't part of the plan. And you aren't."

Lulu pouted, suddenly not feeling like he had been so sincere earlier after all. Pix above was shaking his head, urging her to not continue on. But Lulu didn't care, she needed to know. "You said he's not your friend. So why does Rumble get to help and not me?"

"What makes you think I'd choose you over him?"

"Because _I'm_ your friend!" she exclaimed. "And friends help each other with their secret plans."

"Again. What makes you think that? I've shown no interest in being your friend. And yet, you keep following me around."

Lulu paused, letting this sink in. Was it possible he really didn't want her for a friend? That she was truly unwanted here as well as Bandle City? Her face fell further as she let out a sigh, leaning back against the table.

There was silence. Lulu didn't have the heart to say anything as she processed. But…no, No, it wasn't possible. He didn't hate her and she knew it.

After a full minute passed by as she worked to devise a new plan to win his friendship, but Veigar was the one to finally break the silence. ''Why...?"

"Why what?" she glanced up, eyes refocusing on him.

"Why do you care so much?" he asked again, confusion evident.

Lulu cracked a smile. "That's a silly question."

"Tch, whatever." Of course he would disregard her statement, however true it was.

"Well," she paused to think."Why do you?"

"What?" Veigar was beginning to sound annoyed again.

She ignored his tone, like usual, as she clarified. "Why do _you_ care?"

"We just went over this," he huffed, arms crossed over himself. "What makes you think I do?"

"Because you do."

"…That's ridiculous," he stated flatly. Clearly she'd have to spell out the reasons for him.

"Nuhuh. You let me into your house."

"You forced your way in," he fired on back.

"You play with me almost every Tuesday."

"Again, forced."

"You let me see your face."

"A regrettable accident," his excuses came all the quicker as she listed.

"Ate my cupcake!"

"Tch." At last, he didn't seem to have a response.

Sensing she had won, Lulu spun around with glee. "I knew it!"

"I didn't want you to cry all over me!" he exclaimed, apparently still trying to regain some control of their little debate.

"Because," she moved back over, jabbing his chest with her finger. "You," she poked a little higher, "care," and ended by tapping right where his forehead would be should she be able to see it.

Veigar's hands shot to his hat the moment hers neared it, though he didn't seem to relax even after it was apparent she wasn't going to remove it. "Don't," he muttered weakly.

Lulu laughed, shaking her head. "I won't before asking you first, I promise~"

Despite her assurances, he continued to stand there, hat firmly in his grasp.

"I proomise! Scardy cat," she teased. She hadn't known he was _that_ afraid of the hat falling off.

The taunt seemed to snap him out of it. After a delay he released the hat and crossed his arms, looking away. "Don't call me that!"

"Do you prefer Scardy Kitty?"

Veigar's head snapped back her way. "I prefer Master of Evil!"

"You left out Tiny~" she continued to giggle.

Somehow the yordle managed to glared harder."Look!" his shout made Lulu jump. What was he planning on this time? "Just, if it'll make you happy, fine. We're friends. Okay?"

Lulu blinked. He was still on that? She thought they had moved on. Then the realization of what he said kicked in and she jumped once more. "Really? Really?!"

Half a moment later Veigar would find himself transmogulated into a purple squirrel and in the arms of an enthusiastic Lulu. He squeaked in protest but put up no other fight. "Thank you," she muttered as she squeezed the little ball of fur. When the squirrel began to squirm she released him from her spell as he leapt from her arms to the table.

Veigar came down with a crash, banging his head on a chair. Hissing, he glared up as he pulled himself together. "Don't make me regret it."

"Well I couldn't very well hug you with all that silly pointy armor of yours."

"It's not silly, it's threatening!"

"Well I think it's silly. And uncomfortable. But if you really don't want to be a squirrel so badly, I'll figure something else for next time."

"Tch," he turned, walking out of the kitchen back into the dusty hallway.

* * *

 **an:** I've been dying to write this chapter since I first outlined it weeks ago. I know some of it may be a _little_ cliché for LuluxVeigar stuff but…yeahokayIhavenoexcuseIjustlikeitImean _cupcakes_.

To SHB: You make a fair point. Trying to be less predictable but, well... this chapter probably doesn't prove that with the cliché fluffiness. As for the Yordle Team thing, I'm personally fully aware of how it's a terrible comp lol. But it's fun if you go in with the right mindset, win or lose. Also I consider Amumu a Yordle, whatever Riot has to say about it at this point so he'd be my preferred jungler if someone wished to join us. Warning: I will pick on you for being such a crybaby, Amumu.

In other news, I went to a con this last weekend dressed as Lulu and got pictures taken by a professional cosplay photographer and had a ton of fun. I might be obsessing over yordles a little too much.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Veigar was beginning to develop a problem. Looking back, he wasn't certain when it had begun nor was he sure he wanted to know. All he knew was that he was desperate for solitude in his own home and that was _not_ something he was supposed to be feeling.

When an especially clingy Lulu had showed up on the second floor of his private, secure home full of dark magic he hadn't even been all that surprised. If anyone could effortlessly track him down and break his magical barrier it would be her. It still baffled him _why_ she'd even want to do such a thing but that much had been accepted. No, what he truly didn't understand was why he let her get away with it.

Sure, he could continue to tell himself that there was nothing he could do about it but deep down he knew that wasn't true. Lulu may have been a powerful sorceress but his raw ability was stronger. He had managed to keep away every other League champion or nosy Yordle but not this ridiculous girl that was brazenly stalking him. He realized this when she reversed his honest question back onto himself… that he had let her do it.

There was only one logical conclusion as to why he would allow this, and that wicked smile of hers she kept throwing him today most certainly was not it.

Lulu was using magic to control him. …This would have to be corrected.

Naturally, the girl chased him up the stairs as he retreated to his study. Veigar managed to block out most of the babble, so focused was he in his thoughts, but still the occasional line would burst through into his mind.

" –going to let me in on it, right?" he heard as his reached the landing. Veigar reached up under his hat to rub his temple.

"- said you talked to her in Piltover and that she can change the colors on Saturday and I-" The doorknob was turned, the door burst open. Still, he didn't bother trying to turn her away. His attempt earlier in the kitchen had been an utter disaster. The door was left open for her to follow.

"- try on Tristy? Because that wouldn't be fair-"

The mage immediately went for the shelf behind his desk, searching his most familiar books for any hint on how to end the spell. "Don't touch anything," he ordered halfheartedly as he heard Lulu enter behind him. Not even ten seconds later a loud thud could be heard near the window. … that didn't take long. Veigar turned to survey the damage and found Lulu lying on the ground beside his fallen star globe, poking at it to watch the tiny model of Runeterra spin within the outer glass. "You didn't break it, did you?!" he shouted, dropping beside her to exam the damage.

"Nuh-uh, its fine," he could hear the smile in her voice as he looked it over. She seemed to be correct, but he had to wonder why the one thing she chose to knock down was a fragile antique. "What is it? It's pretty. Does it do magic? Is that a map? Where do we live?"

Veigar stood, removing one gauntlet to carefully hold the globe. "It's a map of the stars in relation to Runeterra." The antique was placed back onto the stand with a sigh.

"Oooh, what's it for?" The girl leaned into the sphere, holding her over-sized hat up with one hand to prevent it from slipping. The fairy… bat… thing… whatever he was today, fluttered from one of the twin points of her hat to the globe, seemingly curious himself.

He rolled his eyes to the side, "Tch, It's obvious, isn't it? To teach constellations and their positioning for navigation or magic." It had been a long time since he had used the thing for its original purpose, but at least it had come in handy the last few years as he studied his craft. "It's also very delicate, so I'd appreciate if you didn't touch it." Lulu's short attention span seemed to be used up. She grabbed at his now-exposed wrist to look over his hands.

"Same goes for me!"

"You're not made of glass," Lulu giggled, bringing her nose to the back of his hand to sniff it.

The mage yanked his hand away, hissing. Her antics were becoming more uncomfortable by the moment. "No touching!" In no time at all, the gauntlet was back on.

"Why not, though? Was it because of that little scar on your palm? Does it still hurt?"

He turned, resuming his search for the correct book. "No."

"Your hands were a lot smaller than I thought they'd be. Why do you wear such big gloves?"

"Gauntlets," he turned the page, failing to drown her out as he skimmed without reading.

"Oh, it's because you're trying to look scary, right?" she laughed.

Veigar slammed the book shut. "I don't need gauntlets to look scary!"

"I know, I know, that's what you think the hat's for," she grinned as if he words were some kind of joke. How any of this was funny to her was beyond him.

"I'm the Master of Evil! I don't need any this…" he paused, not sure of the word. Settling on gesturing to his outfit as a whole he continued, "this to be scary. I can burst down nearly anyone I chose to their death and my power grows daily. So what in Valoran are you still doing here?"

Lulu pouted, but what exactly she thought of his monologue was otherwise uncommunicated as she looked out the window. This was just as well. Perhaps in her silence he'd manage to find the counterspell he needed or at least figure out how to get what Rumble wanted out of the deal they struck the day before.

Despite this, in the minutes spent in avid attempt to ignore her as he skimmed the titles of all the books on the nearby shelf, all he could think about was the fact that she was there. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, he turned to face the absurdly quiet girl and… found the room empty. A rising panic swept over him… Lulu could be anywhere, destroying his home one room at a time.

Just as he began to shout the familiar buzz of the crystal in his pocket interrupted. "Not now!" Veigar pulled the crystal out, glaring at it before slamming the piece on the desk. "Girl! I have to step out. Go home!"

When no response came, he shoved a few papers and things from his desk into his pocket before retrieving the crystal. As the study faded away he could swear he heard her devious laugh from somewhere around the corner.

* * *

Any small relief Veigar may have felt over distancing himself from the Fae Sorceress would be negated immediately upon arrival. In addition the anxiety he felt over leaving his priceless collection of magical objects and literature in her hands, an equally disturbing threat was waiting for him.

"What took you so long to teleport in?" Jinx grinned the moment he materialized. The rest of the team had just left to defend the jungle, leaving only The Loose Cannon as he paid for his Doran's ring.

"Why should you care?" The ring snugly adjusted to his gauntlet, Veigar barely glanced at Jinx. The question would not be his first choice of words, but with the blue-haired girl, he really did need to be careful.

"No reason! Just wanted to talk to my second favorite little tiny yordle person. But my summoner has me heading to lane sooooo bye bye!" She spoke as she moved down. Glancing back, she grinned, "Oh, tomorrow night should have good weather. Warm. Overcast. Lovely evening for a little destruction, don't you think?"

Veigar frowned, unhappy with her casual mention of potential plans. It seemed this time no one was near enough to hear but if Jinx was throwing out information so easily, the world would get wind of his plan before he could go through with it. As he processed what she said as he began to farm though, another sort of worry crept up though. Would Rumble be ready by then? Even if he did get summoned before tomorrow night there was no guarantee he'd actually join their heist. Perhaps if he stuck Lulu on him to annoy him into it… Veigar smiled slightly at the thought, but quickly discarded it. Beyond it over complicating the logistics of the situation he simply did not want her involved. Throughout the entirety of the laning phase his mind shifted through the multitude of worries he had managed put upon himself, from the nonsensical girl likely tearing apart his home to Jinx and Rumble.

The game was a loss. Veigar took some comfort in knowing it wasn't his personal lack of focus, but rather his summoner's that lost his lane, and ultimately the game. When it came time to teleport out he pulled Jinx aside to the jungle. "Tomorrow night is too soon," he hissed quietly, still paranoid of any potential bystanders. For a brief moment he feared Lulu would follow and hide as she apparently always did. That is, until he remembered that she was not actually there. Instead she was tearing apart his house. Right. The things he sacrificed in the name of Evil.

"Aww but it's the best night! See, Friday night I'm going to a formal party in Zaun where I'm going to wear this big flashy belt I stole and Saturday I'm going to raid Vi's fridge when she's on duty and Sunday I have to wash my hair and on Monday Fishbones and I are going on a hike and Tues-"

"Enough! Enough. Alright, tomorrow night it is. Though _only_ if my help shows. …On that note, I have another favor to ask of you."

"Sheeeesh, for a crazed, evil Yordle bent on world domination you ask for a lot."

Veigar cleared his throat. He'd ignore that for that sake of cooperation. "I'm going to need you to stage some chaos during phase two. Make a Rumble look like a hero."

"Phase two? Oh, is that like a laser gun? Because-"

"I mean in Bandle City!"

There was a pause. Then, "OOoooooooh. Right. Right. So. You want me to fight Rumble with lasers in Bandle City. I got this. Though I can't promise he won't come out a little crispy."

Veigar took a long, slow deep breath. After his last confrontation with the crazed woman nearly a week before, he should have learned his lesson. Jinx was not to be reasoned with. It was as if dealing with Lulu invading his home hadn't been painful enough. "No. I want you to stage a distraction while I do my work. After we get it out of there, fight Rumble. Let him save the day."

"Bah, booooring. Why would I want to do that? I mean, blowing up Piltover and letting Fathands chase me around for an evening is one thing. Letting that scrawny, blue mouse-thing best me in a fight?" Jinx snorted unattractively.

"... What do you want?" Veigar sighed. These negotiations were getting out of hand, reminding him why he typically worked alone in the first place.

"Oh, that's easy! Here, uh," Jinx squatted down to his level, looking him directly in the eye. As she did so, she removed her larger gun, placing her hands over where he imagined the shark-like gun's ears would be. "… a little help?" Nodding her head to the side, she gestured to the smaller gun. … she couldn't have been serious. Where was he even supposed to hold it? Calculating the risk of her abandoning plans altogether, he begrudgingly went along with it. Sighing, he took the gun, looking it over to discover he wouldn't have to guess at the correct location after all. The ridiculous-looking gun had a set of rabbit ears. Jinx finally appeared satisfied that her weapons wouldn't overhear, "I want a gun that shoots other guns," she leaned in to whisper.

She spoke so seriously that Veigar didn't know how to react for a full five seconds. Surely she was joking? … No. No this was Jinx. She meant it. Contingency plan it was. "How about I raid Zigg's office for Hexplosives instead?" he countered. He supposed a slight detour during the first job wouldn't be too difficult…

"Done!" Jinx shouted, jumping to a stand with a wild grin and one hand in the air. "Hear that, Fishbones, Pow-Pow? We're going to get some new friends."

* * *

 **an:** Sorry this took so long. I've been rewriting segments of the overall outline to better fit the pace of the story. Because of that, I wasn't sure yet where exactly I'd end chapter seven. Thanks for the reviews and support. You guys make my day!

I'm upping the rating of the story to T just for the touches of darker themes the story crosses into. I've been meaning to for a while but keep forgetting.

In League news, I've been playing Ranked 5s Teams to Ward Skin Farm. Anyone want to join in who plays on NA and doesn't mind my low elo?


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

"Come on, Pix. I can't… quite… reach it," Lulu stood on the tips of her toes, arms stretched precariously upwards from the wobbly stool to the edge of the shelf. For the last ten minutes she had investigated the little room across from Veigar's study, with little of interest to be found. For the most part the room housed dusty old books… something his home did not seem to lack in the least.

"I still don't understand why you'd even want to read it," Pix looked up from a folded map he'd been halfheartedly observing. The fairy sighed, seeing the predicament Lulu had managed for herself, and flew to the book she was grabbing for. "It's not even legible."

"But it's big! And the right color. Maybe a little dark. But still purple. And those pictures on the outside look pretty!" While she could easily have reached the beautiful book with the use of magic, Pix was being boring and she wanted company.

He seemed to understand this and played along, walking alongside the back. "You mean the runes?" The book inched closer to her grasp.

"Mhmm," she smiled widely. "I wonder if Veigar knows what it means. Do you think he was taught to read pictures wherever he leaned magic?"

Pix gave the book another shove, "I don't know," then another. For his size, his strength was nothing trivial, but that said he was still quite small. "Something tells me he wouldn't want you asking about it though."

Lulu's nose and mouth twisted to one side as she pondered this. "Why would he care if I asked if he could read runes?"

"That's not quite what I meant." The fairy gave the book a final push just as the tip of her fingers pulled it down. The large volume tumbled downwards, knocking Lulu off-balance as it hit her arm.

"Oomph!" The ground stung slightly, but the sphere of flowers that had wordlessly appeared around her seem to have broken the fall. Lulu looked up to Pix to thank him with a smile before remembering the fallen book. There it lay, open to a page near the end, calling to her in all its purple glory.

"Are you okay? Did you hurt your head?" Pix rushed downwards, circling his friend in worry.

Lulu didn't pay him much attention, finding the beautiful book far more important. "With trifled be to nothing are spells such." Lulu was already reading. "Spirit very your sacrificing, soul-"

Pix landed on her nose, forcing the girl to look up from the book. "Clearly you must have. Hold still while I look you over."

"No, really! That's what it says. Only it makes no sense. See?" Pointing to the line, her finger followed around the remainder of the paragraph. "Spirit very your sacrificing, soul your to bind will itself darkness the, powerful while. Magic dark cheat can they believe who all to out goes warning stern a. … What do you think that means?"

"I think it means you should stay away from Veigar's magic books," Pix warned, giving Lulu his stern look that meant play time was over.

She'd never liked that look much. "No it says… um, oh! It's backwards, see?" She pointed to a line, moving her finger along the line right to left. "How silly! I didn't know Veigar liked silly books."

Fluttering now to the book, the fairy looked up at Lulu with an expression somehow more serious. "It's a warning. Read it again." He tapped his foot on the line before moving out of the way.

"Ummmm okay," Though she had no idea why he would want her to when it made no sense. Not that she had a problem with nonsensical things, but something about this unnerved her. "Magic dark cheat-"

"No, no. The other way. At the end of that sentence." Pix sounded almost as exasperated as she was beginning to feel. It wasn't _her_ fault Veigar's books were confusing.

It took a moment to process what he meant. Then, "oooooh right," Lulu chuckled before taking a deep breath and starting. "A stern warning goes out," she paused. Yes this made much more sense, "to all who believe they can cheat dark magic. While powerful, the darkness itself will bind to your soul, sacrificing your very spirit. Such spells are nothing to be trifled with… … oooooooh." Finally understanding, she looked up to meet Pix's eyes as he hovered before her. "Do you think this is why… well, why Veigar's so grumpy?"

"That's one way of putting it. …Come on, Lulu," he sighed. "I think it's time to move on to another room."

After an entire evening of exploration, Veigar hadn't returned. Nothing she had found had been able to answer any questions about him. While she had enjoyed poking her nose in his things and loving knowing how to picture better him in his free time, more questions than answers had been raised. By far her favorite discovery had been all the way back down on the first floor.

A previously unnoticed table sat in the middle of the dark room. It was round, sizeable, and smelled like peanuts and caramel the moment she lit up the area. If not for the gold trim she'd probably have passed it altogether, but the table had caught her eye long enough to lean her staff up against it.

Without further bidding, the void between the table and ceiling lit up with beautiful, purple stars. "Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo," Lulu stared, shaking with excitement. "I knew I'd find something cool! Pix, look at this! What do you think this is for?"

Pix flew over, admiring her find from the top of her hat. "Another star map?"

"It's pretty…." She reached out a hand, unable to bear not trying to touch one a moment longer. Her fingers went right through, feeling only a slight warmth and the tingle of magic.

"Are you sure you should touch it?"

Lulu giggled, "Am I sure of anything?"

Pix didn't have much to say to that.

As she poked and prodded at the tiny stars, she began to notice some were brightening. "Hmm," she poked at one, concentrating as she dragged her finger from it to another. A thin, silver line appeared, connecting the two. "Oh, look, look!" she exclaimed, drawing more lines between. "I can make constellations!" Lulu stepped back, taking a better look at the groupings to see if she could recognize any for herself. Almost as if they read her mind, the field expanded, allowing her to stand in the center to see the stars as if she were on Runeterra instead of the sky. Before long, several forms began to take shape. "Shattered crown," she muttered, drawing the lines between. "Frozen Watcher," a second form was added with a smile. "That's all I really remember though… stars were different in the Glade, weren't they?"

Pix, who had sat himself on the table to watch at some point, looked over with a nod. "I'm not familiar at all with your world's constellations. Even my own have little significance. Star magic is not the magic of the Fae."

"It is beautiful though," she willed the stars to return to their smaller size and back into the table, missing their presence immediately. Next time she visited she'd have to make Veigar show her how he played with it.

"Perhaps, when used correctly," he warned sternly. Lulu's thoughts wandered to Soraka, a being she knew once belonged in the stars themselves. She used their magic to heal, while Veigar somehow used them to hurt. What had lead him to misuse such a beautiful magic in the first place?

* * *

Lulu thoroughly enjoyed being a squirrel. Little could beat the joy of jumping from branch to branch, wind in her purple fur as she played. It was truly a wonderful thing to experience. It was such a shame, then, that this joy was reduced to simply being a way to sneak into Bandle City.

Not that this was anything new. Since her banishment, Lulu had taken advantage of her magical abilities many times to visit her family. At least once a month, usually when it was a green day, but sometimes pink or even yellow, she'd make the trek to the gravesite.

"You really should try this!" Lulu squealed as she leapt down from the city wall, splashing into the puddle of murky water below. Its contents were sent upwards, drenching her friend as well as herself.

Fluttering his wings in quick motion, Pix dried himself with a sigh after her unintentional assault. "… I prefer my usual form, thank you."

"Yooou're just like Veigar," she teased, already leaping off to climb a nearby tree. "Grumpy, grumpy!"

"Perhaps," the fairy flew closely behind, "if you hadn't cajoled me into staying up so late with you last night."

Lulu laughed, pausing to look back and stick out her little squirrel tongue. "You wanted to explore Veigar's house as much as I did!"

Pix didn't appear as if he agreed, only looking away with another sigh. Lulu didn't mind though, whether or not her friend was genuinely interested in what they were doing, he was always there for her. Late into the night they had explored, looking for any sign of something she could use to learn more about Veigar. When the other yordle hadn't returned home, Pix even comforted Lulu in her fears that something must have happened to him. Eventually, the two of them had passed out on the unmade bed they found on the top floor, exhausted and unable to explore any longer.

The rest of the trip to cemetery went by in relative silence, Lulu's mood slowly sombering as she remembered why she was there. The day was early, the time tasting distinctly of strawberries last she had checked before leaving. Looking up to the sky, the morning sun was just peaking out of the clouds, lightening the area. This brightened her somewhat as she arrived at the headstone she had visited faithfully since her return to Runeterra. As was usual the yard was nearly vacant. Often it was only her and Pix but the occasional mourner would share their space and Lulu did her best to keep out of their way.

"Hello, Mom," Lulu smiled, resting a paw against the headstone. It never struck her that her mother would never have been able to understand her in her squirrel form, not that such things mattered when speaking to the dead. "I brought a picnic! Though I should probably wait until we're alone to bring it out. Oh, and Dad," she looked to the neighboring stone. "It has your favorite biscuits! The ones Grandma used to make."

Pix kept his distance as he typically did, flying off to a tree just out of earshot. Lulu supposed he felt some guilt over her disappearance from her parent's time, but she did not blame him. How could she?

"The last month has been exciting," Lulu stepped back, lowering her paw. "I think I've finally made a real friend. I mean, he was my friend before but now… now he'll admit it," she sighed, smiling. "You remember Veigar, right? I've told you about him before. With the big blue hat and the funny laugh? I got to visit his house! It's so big and old and amazing. I bet it was even around when I was little. Do you remembering hearing about a library out in the woods?"

She paused, giving the time needed for her family to answer should they have been able to.

"That's okay, I don't either. I wish you could see it though. Downstairs I found this table that lit up the air with purple stars! It was beautiful. Even Pix liked it! I'm not sure what was prettier, that or the glass globe we found-"

From somewhere left of her, a distant sob could be heard. Lulu blinked, turning her head towards the source. Seeing no one, the yordle opened her mouth to continue before hearing another. Scurrying up to the top of her mother's headstone, Lulu looked out to see the graveyard's only other occupant in mourning some distance away. A female yordle knelt, eyes fixated on the stone before her. She was a good deal older than Lulu, her long dark brown hair pulled up into a bun, long bangs framing either side of her face. Despite the space between them her distress was clear, and Lulu felt for her.

Leaping down, Lulu weaved her way to observe the woman closer. Her family could spare her for a few minutes. The yordle she was watching, however… could not. Even as she arrived, the crying yordle bent over in anguish. Lulu transmogulated herself back to normal, though wearing instead of her cheerful dress a modest, dark purple tunic with no hat. Placing her hand on the older yordle's shoulder, she smiled sympathetically at her as she looked up in confusion. "… may I sit with you?" Lulu asked quietly.

Through her tears, she nodded, kneeling properly once more. "Did you… kn-know him?" her voice was high, yet sweet despite the tremor in words.

Glancing at the headstone, Lulu read the inscription. Melo. She shook her head, looking back to her. She hadn't expected to recognize it anyway, considering everyone she knew was either in the League or died centuries ago. "No. But you looked like you needed company." Delicately, she picked up a fallen leaf, magicking it into a handkerchief. Lulu passed it over to the clearly confused yordle who stared at her. … perhaps openly using magic had not been the best of ideas.

The other opened her mouth to speak, shut it, then opened it once again. "You're the girl they banished, aren't you?" she asked without malice.

Lulu nodded in response, holding her gaze. "I'm Lulu."

"Nema," she responded with a name of her own, taking the handkerchief to wipe her eyes. "Your secret is safe with me. No one should be banished from visiting their loved ones." Her line of sight drifted towards the headstone. "… Thank you."

Lulu's eyes followed, looking it over once more. The date on it stated whoever this Melo was, they had passed away young. There was no full date of death, only a year, dated ten years before. "Was he… your son?" She hated to ask it. If true, that was something horrible.

"Is," Nema stated, causing Lulu to blink in confusion. "… or was. I can't help but hold out some hope. Even after all this time."

So he was missing. Missing for an entire decade. A strong sense of guilt filled her, making her glad Pix wasn't close enough to see her now pale face. "I…" she started, but was unable to bring herself to speak. While this yordle had made it to the age of seventeen, Lulu herself had been nine when she disappeared. How must her mother have felt? Had she waited her whole life for her return?

Plucking a blade of grass, Lulu transmogulated it into a large, blue daisy. She placed the flower on the stone before standing, feeling the need to apologize to her parents yet again for her disappearance.

"His favorite color," Nema whispered, tearful eyes on the flower.

Lulu frowned. She couldn't just leave the poor yordle. Mother would have to wait. "May I ask… I mean, would you like to tell me more about him?"

Nema was silent for a long moment, and Lulu feared she had upset her. But she did speak. "It's been ten years to the day since I last saw him. Melo always had his head in a book or map, often both at the same time." She smiled sadly, finally looking away from the flower to Lulu. "There is a large map of Runeterra on his bedroom wall with flags pinned into it. All the many places he wanted to see. He studied history, navigation, learned all he could to be prepared to travel when his chance came. And when it did…" Nema trailed off.

"It sounds like he was a very smart boy," Lulu smiled, kneeling down to be at level with her again. "I'm sure you were proud."

"I am," she stated calmly, reaching into her pocket to pull out a piece of paper no larger than her hand. "Would you like to see?"

Lulu took the photograph, smiling at her new friend. "Of course." A moment later, however, she gasped.

His face was unmarred by scars and at least ten years younger, but there was no mistake. The smiling boy in the photograph was Veigar.

* * *

 **an** : _Too_ easy to see coming? Yeahokayprobably.

Again a big thanks to Oceanbourne for betareading. Read his stories. Make him write more than one chapter every three weeks. :D

Oh, and I changed my username. Sorry for any confusion. Thequietwriter was more of a name I used like… a decade ago. I've gone by Lioriel most places for the last five years and wanted to sync up my ancient account here with the present!


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

Rumble was very out of his element. That said, most anything not having to do with mechanical engineering and being picked on for his size generally felt unfamiliar. This was so despite the many number of times he had been in this exact position- floundering while talking to one Bandle City Gunner.

"Hey there, Rumble!" it began, the beautiful yordle waving with her trademark grin. He had jumped, not expecting to be noticed from where he leaned against the wall, eating his sandwich. It had been a long morning, spent trudging around the countryside like some errand boy, and he was hungry. With so many other people in the crowded street that he was sure he'd be the last to be seen by her... but there she was, perfect as ever, waving just for him.

… he dropped the sandwich. "Oh, uh… sorry um," Rumble shook, stopping himself from retrieving his fallen lunch midway. He couldn't look like some slob. Or like he cared. Or like the idiot he generally looked like at the moment. "Right… Hi." Teeth clenched tightly he tried to smile back, to look cool and at ease despite it all. He was certain he didn't succeed.

Tristana just laughed, shaking her head as she bent to collect the pieces. "My bad, didn't mean to sneak up on you. I guess next time I'll try not to be so sneaky," she winked, teasing him. Rumble swallowed. He really did look like an idiot, didn't he? And now she was cleaning up his mess. What kind of jerk made the girl they liked clean up their sandwich? "Trash?" she added after a moment, holding out the food.

"Wha?" Trash? Great, now she was calling him names and-

"You're not still going to eat it? Or are you?"

"Oh. Oh, uh no. No, I'm not very hungry anyway." His stomach grumbled loudly, betraying his lie. Aside from the apple he had grabbed on his way out that morning, the yordle hadn't eaten all day. He had been too busy setting Tristy's landing beacon up at the sorry excuse for a garage Veigar's map had directed him to. Sure, it was large. But the place was falling apart, and the long hike through the cursed woods hadn't helped his opinion.

Fortunately, Tristana saw no reason to injure his pride further, only rolling her eyes in response. "Suit yourself!" The yordle walked a short distance, depositing his lunch in the alleyway. Rumble mourned its loss, knowing full well he'd have eaten it anyway should Tristana not been there to witness it. But he couldn't very well look like a slob.

"So, um," Rumble turned, leaning his side up against the wall as he watched her return. Time to look cool. "How've _you_ been?" he asked, nodding his head just so. It would sound smooth, relaxed. He managed to pull it off.

Unfortunately she didn't seem impressed, merely moving on with her cheery attitude as usual. "Won three matches this week alone! Seems I've risen in popularity with the Summoners lately too," she laughed beautifully.

"Ha," he shifted, uncrossing his arms. What was he supposed to do with his hands? "Think they'll um," he moved them back to where they were, still fidgeting, "try to nerf your abilities soon?"

Tristana shrugged. "Don't mind if they do. Not exactly fair if I can beat them with an advantage, now is it?" she winked again.

Rumble almost felt his voice crawl off to hide.

"Anyway, nice seeing you!" she continued when he did not respond. Giving a wave first, she turned to leave.

"Wait!" he called out, entirely unsure of what he would say. It just wasn't fair that she was leaving so soon. Maybe if she'd stay longer he'd manage to get over this stupidity that came over each and every time she was in his presence. Tristana looked back, eyebrows raised in question. "Um, I uh," he took a deep breath. "I was wondering if maybe you'd like to-" His teleportation crystal buzzed from the pocket of his tunic. Of course. He finally _(almost)_ got the guts to ask her to something and the League had to go and interrupt. "Nevermind," he sighed, lifting the crystal to her view. "Duty calls."

"Good luck!" she smiled cheerfully, waving once more.

"Yeah," Rumble muttered under his breath, lost in her smile. The crystal buzzed again. "I mean, uh, not gonna need it!" he shouted with a grin. "Bandle City needs no luck!"

As it turned out, a little luck might have been useful after all. Being matched against his most loathed rival never made for an enjoyable game. If the Institute would only allow him to take full advantage of Tristy's abilities… then he'd be able to show that sellout what he was made of. But no, their picky little rules would not allow him to fire 20 electro-harpoons continuously or heat his flamespitter enough to instantaneously melt Heimerdinger's misshapen, oversized head.

As the match ended and Rumble realized that what he was about to pull in the name of Veigar's ridiculous plan just _had_ to be after another humiliating defeat against Heimerdinger he felt sick. Would this really all be worth it? One look at his rival as the nexus went down though was enough to solidify his resolve. He would help steal the CUL8TR, facilitate its use in Veigar's plan, and get Tristana to look at him as hero instead of a bumbling fool.

The champions began to teleport away and he got to work, whipping out his wrench and tinkering with the engine. It was all a show, of course, but his frustration with the loss made it seem all the more genuine. The final kick against Tristy's left leg as the last champion left the Rift would surely sell the lie, if not the string of words that followed as he grasped his foot in pain. Rumble hissed, sucking in his breath at the pain. Someone better be watching this….

As if on queue, a hooded man appeared on the platform. He walked down slowly as Rumble did his best to seem engrossed in the problem he had invited for Tristy. The Institute official stopped a short distance away, watching for several long minutes. "Is there a problem with your machine?" a vaguely familiar voice spoke. The leadership of the Institute was something Rumble had never been able to bring himself to care much about. Why should he? They were nothing more than a group of secretive humans that hid behind magic. They hadn't even the courtesy of showing themselves at his judgment.

Rumble jumped slightly for show before turning back to face the hooded official. "Gah, just one of you guys," he returned to his work, muttering under his breath. "Tristy was acting up all game. If I don't get this fixed-" The miniature explosion he had set upon opening the hood went off on cue. The engine hissed and Rumble gave the machine a little pat of reassurance. It had been nothing that should cause real damage. He'd never purposefully hurt his mech suit, even in the name of revenge. Stepping back, he kicked at the suit's leg again where he knew it had a weak point, causing it to fall over.

The official slowly walked around the fallen machine, silently evaluating the situation as Rumble bounced on his good foot. "…How long to get it fixed?" he eventually asked, finally stopping directly in front of the yordle.

"I don't know!" It didn't take much imagination to appear distressed, Rumble was plenty nervous being stared down by invisible eyes. " A week? Maybe more?" he ran a gloved hand through his Mohawk, shifting his eyes back to Tristy and the 'damage'. "Fabricating a new set of cylinders is going to take time. It's not like Bandle city has the shops they need with all those sell-outs moving to Piltover. Tristy takes some very specialized equipment."

There was silence as this information was considered. Half a minute later, a remote-like piece of techmaturgy with an antennae was pulled out and aimed at his suit.

"Woah, woah, what are you doing?" Rumble jumped between the man and his suit, glaring him down.

The hooded man gesture for him to move aside, but he would not budge. "I'm prepping your machine for transport to your garage here at the Institute of War," he stated emotionlessly. A few buttons were pressed as he glided away from closer to Tristy.

"As if I'd ever let one of you fools touch-"

"A new match is about to begin. You may join it at the garage and decide exactly what you need before using this," a blue crystal much like the pink one he carried around with everywhere was brought forth, to make a visit to Piltover and back.

Rumble eyed the crystal with a state of suspicion. Had his plan actually worked? They were buying this nonsense? "Piltover?" Rumble spat. "I'd rather be out for a month than patronize them."

The crystal was held out silently. It was clear as he stared the man down that the Institute meant he had no choice in the matter. Finally, he spoke. "Find what you need and get your weapon operational as soon as possible. This is an order."

Rumble grabbed at the teleporter, still glaring. "If you _insist_."

"We do." A few buttons later both he and Tristy faded away.

When he arrived in Piltover an hour later, Rumble was still shocked the confrontation had gone so smoothly. Sure, his natural charisma had to have helped, but even then. He had _lied_ to the Institute of War. Lied and gotten away with it. It felt… kind of good.

Despite his general distaste for the City of Piltover, Rumble had to admit the view from the large was impressive. Definitely big, especially when compared to the yordle-sized homes he was used to. But certainly comprised of mostly-stolen technology. As instructed, he teleported to the circled location on the meticulously drawn map he'd been given. He looked down to the larger set of maps, reevaluating where exactly he was, then up again to compare the bronze city as it glittered in the sunlight. He was in an open area of a park, obviously chosen to negate the possibility of being placed in a locked room or worse, inside a wall. The Institute's magic generally managed to avoid the problem but there was always the chance something could go wrong.

Whatever good mood was beginning to form was instantly shattered as a large, gauntleted hand pulled on his arm to drag him to a small grouping of trees. "Hey! That's no way to-" a second gauntlet was found over his mouth. Rumble kicked at Veigar but found his scrawny legs couldn't quite reach.

A few seconds later he was released and Veigar went to pace a short distance away. "You're late!" he accused in his ever-shrill voice.

Rumble huffed, stashing the maps back into his pocket along with the blue crystal. "Don't remember you setting a day or time, Your Highness."

Veigar stopped to hiss. "That's Evil Overlord to you!"

"Yeah, yeah. Sure. So what next?" The mage's evil-obsessed antics hadn't phased Rumble in years. He was pretty sure the other champions felt the same. "You said something about arranging a distraction?"

Veigar looked to the city for a long moment, seeming to be calculating one thing or another. "I was told tonight. She knows where to stay away from, but beyond that, it's up to her." He spoke it with resigned disgust. Whoever he had roped into causing a distraction was clearly calling her own shots.

"How, then, am I late?" Rumble huffed as he looked around the park. It was a little too public for his liking... what if someone were to spot he and Veigar together? For the moment, though, they mostly seemed out of the way.

"Because we have mere hours to prepare and I've had to wait here for you all day!" he all but shouted.

Rumble raised an eyebrow, pulling the maps back out into his hand. "Didn't you circle where to go from here on-"

"Room plans changed. Come."

Grumbling to himself, Rumble waited outside the inn as he watched one enormous oaf of a human walk by after another. "So stupid, why am I even bothering?" Veigar had made him promise to wait five minutes before following him in. He didn't mind much… it wasn't as if he wanted to be seen with the crazed dark mage… but he still hadn't gotten over the fact that he was in _Piltover,_ of all places. Trying not to focus on the busy street of humans, his gaze rested on the largest of many nearby clocks. It was several blocks away, gears exposed to the elements for no reason other than what Rumble supposed was meant to be aesthetic value. What was with the clock obsession anyway? What was Piltover trying to prove… that they could tell time?

At last his five minutes were up. He found the doorknob to be aggravatingly high, forcing him to jump from the tips of his toes. "Not very…" he tried again, hand slipping off the knob during the first attempt, "Yordle friendly."

He strode across the front room with purpose, ignoring the tavern and its occupants as he headed towards the back. Everything about the room was uncomfortably tall and full of equally uncomfortable people. At least in the hallway, he found some peace as he retrieved the room number from the paper Veigar had given him. At long last his third-floor room was found and, (after another frustrating jump to the doorknob) entered.

The room was a mess. Newspapers and maps littered the floor, table, and unmade bed in the center. Veigar looked up from one of the many papers on the table, then to the large window after verifying it was just him. "I thought you said this was my room," Rumble shut the door behind him, striding over to join him at the window. Even from this view, Piltover was still impressive. He hated it.

"It is. Mine too. Like I said, plans changed," Veigar scoffed.

Rumble raised an eyebrow, glancing back at the single bed. "… Good thing we can get this done in one day after all."

Veigar grunted in agreement.

"Why the change, anyway? Didn't want to cough up the money?" he stepped away, perusing the table. There he found old clippings from Bandle City's own newspapers as well as Piltover's. Photos of Heimerdinger's machine, the schematics he had already been shown, and a curious little map of a four-level circular building he hadn't seen before.

"It appears there's some sort of meaningless celebration tonight. More visitors than usual," he replied dryly. Rumble looked up from the map to see him still staring off at whatever it was that interested him. "Without using any _persuasion_ , this room was all I could get."

"Heh, I suppose you're not as evil as you say you are," Rumble chuckled halfheartedly, still looking over the map. There were words scrawled all over in messy ink, but most of them crossed out. Lines and X's dotted its entirety, all equally messy. Compared to every other map Veigar had made, it was quite unusual. "What's the deal with this?" he asked, holding it up.

"I'm every bit as evil as I proclaim! I'm just being cautious until after we finish and-" he completed his turn to look over at what Rumble held, growling. "That is none of your business!" The map was snatched away and destroyed by a small blast of some purple magic.

"… riiiight." Whatever it was, the yordle quickly decided he didn't care. The more he stayed out Veigar's business, the better. There was a long moment of silence as the two stared at each other. Each second more awkward than the last. Finally, Rumble spoke. "So are you going to tell me the rest of the plan tonight or not?"

Veigar's posture relaxed slightly. Even the shape of his glowing eyes seemed to change, and Rumble could almost imagine him smiling beneath his large, floppy hat. Chuckling with his signature evil laughter, he started, "We enter the moment it begins."

* * *

an: Not the least bit sorry for torturing Rumble.

Also if anyone is curious of how I draw Lulu and Veigar, I have some rough sketches posted on my deviantart account now. Look up thequietwriter!


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

"What do you mean, 'Detour?" Rumble's grating question came as expected as they dodged behind the large sign outside the university.

The explosive sound of nearby rockets merely made Veigar blink as he turned to glare. "I mean that our associate is expecting pay to hold up _your_ end of the deal, runt." Jinx's attack was close enough by now that the staff should be hiding wherever it was they thought most safe but he wasn't going to take any chances. And so he kept close to the wall, eyes open for every danger… and every nasty look from his companion.

"You're ridiculous, you know that?" Rumble shouted over the sound of another explosion. "This whole plan is ridiculous!"

"I'll remember you said that when I complete my takeover," Veigar stated dryly before swinging the door to the university open and stepping inside.

The hallway was empty as expected, though the real obstacle remained. Rumble at least was silent, though somehow Veigar doubted his words had anything to do with this. Perhaps the idiot actually understood the value of silence. Across the way stood the door marked _Dean of Demolitions_ where Veigar stopped to peak through the window. Empty… as far as he could tell. Knowing its usual occupant, he was likely out enjoying Jinx's attack on the city.

"Dean of Demo-" Rumble read from the plate. "Wait, Ziggs? What are we doing at Ziggs' office?"

There was a reason Veigar had left this little bit out. Rumble and Ziggs had always been more or less friendly despite the idiot's obsessive hatred of all things Piltover. The clink of metal could be heard as his gauntlet turned the knob, pushing the door open. "Detour."

"But- ugh! We don't have time for this. I didn't sign up to steal from _Ziggs_." Nonetheless he followed, even shutting the door behind him as glanced around wildly.

The room was fairly sizable. Two large workbenches covered with various components flanked a center desk. Behind, an oversized window lit the room. It was strangely quiet… perhaps it had been soundproofed. Heimerdinger's decision, no doubt."Why not?" A desk drawer was yanked open, revealing nothing but paperwork inside. Strange… Ziggs didn't spark him as the paperwork type. Dean stuff, he supposed. "He supports both Heimerdinger and the humans of Piltover. Besides, this is necessary to secure your involvement in Bandle City."

Rumble scoffed. "How does that even make sense? All I asked for was to be made the hero in front of Tristana and stealing," his arms waved wildly, "from my friend _isn't_ exactly heroic!"

"Shut up and help me find some bombs. Even one," several cupboards later showed nothing of use. Plenty of parts, but no obvious, complete creation. "would suffice."

The other yordle grumbled, but did as he was told, pillaging the cupboard beneath the left workbench. Ten seconds later the rustling stop and Veigar looked over to see what had been found. It was fairly sizeable, full of tubes and wires, and all connected to a piece of plywood. Likely a prototype but, "Good enough," he grinned, chuckling. He had promised all he could find in his office. If this was it, so be it. He'd fulfilled his end of the bargain.

"What?" his nose wrinkled, half lifting thing. "We don't even know what it is!" Rumble protested.

Veigar slammed the drawer he had been investigating shut before turning to the hexplosive… thing. "We just need to carry it to the CUL8TR."

He didn't look happy about it, but Rumble lifted the bomb anyway. Truthfully he was a little surprised the smaller yordle hadn't put up much of a fight over their detour. "Are you ever going to stop ignoring everything I say?"

Pushing the door open with one hand Veigar looked back, waiting to be followed. "No."

Almost the moment the door was open, the sound of Jinx's destruction returned. If he had calculated correctly, they'd have at least another ten minutes to get out before she called it quits and went on to do whatever it was the crazed girl did when she wasn't shooting Piltover up. Rumble lagged behind, struggling to carry the awkward hexplosive. "Hurry," Veigar hissed.

"Why don't you carry this stupid thing then?" Rumble shot back.

"No need," he laughed. "Besides, I'll need to practice for when I rule the world!"

"Practice what? Being an asshole?"

Veigar glared over his shoulder, prepared to comment when Rumble stiffened before dodging into a perpendicular hallway. "What?" he hissed quietly, jerking his head forward to see whatever had spooked him. A group of students consisting of humans and yordles alike passed on ahead. Veigar stepped backwards, following Rumble into the side hall while keeping his eyes on the group. It was Veigar's turn to freeze, however, when he caught sight of a bright shock of purple hair. "Lulu?" he whispered, thoroughly confused. What would she be doing here?

Rumble could be felt behind him, sticking his head out as well. "Where?"

"Right… oh," The girl turned her head slightly. It wasn't Lulu. Now that he saw her he wondered how he possibly could have made the mistake. "Nevermind," he let out a sigh of relief. It was good to know the girl's stalking skills hadn't reached _that_ level. The group passed on, leaving the hallway empty as it had been. "Let's just go."

Veigar's relief quickly degraded as he realized her not being here meant she assuredly was still destroying his home. The map he had drawn and list of possible trouble she could get herself into with his magical collection had served no purpose but to worry him further. Far too much of the night before had been spent on scrawling possibilities and not on evil plans. With the new day he had managed to put it mostly out of his mind, until Rumble had found the map on the inn's table. And now any hope of forgetting was gone. Reaching into his pocket he grasped his teleportation crystal. The Institute had better call him in for match the moment the job was done. It was just his luck he didn't seem to be the most popular of champions at the moment though and so rarely had the chance to-

Thud.

Lost in his thoughts, Veigar ran directly into the large doorway at the end of the hall.

"What then? Uh, you okay in there, Veigar?" Rumble caught up from behind, giving Veigar a sidelong glance.

Returning the favor, Veigar glared, making it clear the subject was not to be brought up again. "We're here."

"I uh, can see that. … how did you miss seeing the door?"

…Apparently not clear enough. Ignoring him, Veigar adjusted his hat to lean his head against the door, listening for any sound. Deeming it quiet, the large door to the showroom was opened and two yordles slipped inside.

The moment Rumble caught sight of the Carrier Ultra-Load 8th-Type Robot he squealed. An actual, piercing, girlish squeal. "I mean," he started, not even looking embarrassed at his behavior, "I've seen the plans so I knew it was big but just… just, wow, Veigar, have you _seen_ this thing?"

"Yes. I am. Right now," he stated dryly.

"And the claw? Look at the hydraulics! This might actually be big enough to pull it up," he continued bouncing around, observing the machine from every direction.

"That was the point of this excursion." Veigar's patience was wearing thin. "… You can fanboy over this another time! Jinx won't keep up her attack much longer."

Rumble paused, hand in his pocket as he looked slowly over. "Wait, Jinx? That's who you got to distract everyone? Are you crazy?! She could blow up the whole town. Blow up us! And do you really think she'd keep a secret for you, I mean she already told Lulu about you being in Piltover before and uh, duh! Of course it's Jinx," Rumble slapped his head, realizing he had all the information he needed to know it was her before.

"Just," Veigar took a deep breath, seething, "tag the machine." Rumble's rant had been enlightening… now he knew where Lulu had gotten that particular piece of information. It was a good thing Jinx had only been told the bare minimum of what she needed to know for both jobs.

Rumble seemed to pick up on his mood and removed the beacon from his pocket. "Sir, yes, sir," he grumbled, climbing up to the back to attach and program it to teleport it along with him.

Figuring time was short, Veigar retrieved the awkward hexplosive and made his way to the ladder hide it inside. This proved to be more difficult than anticipated, but with one arm around the board and the other on the ladder he managed his task just as Rumble dropped down from the back. "And done!"

"And you're certain it's programmed correctly?" he asked while making his way back down.

"Look, I trust you with all the magic voodoo stuff, you trust me with the machine. I built Tristy myself and got the transporter set without any help from the Institute."

Tristy? Had he really named that heap of junk after Tristana? "… about that name…" he trailed off as he hit the ground.

Rumble stared darkly, daring him to finish the thought. That answered that.

"Nevermind," Veigar looked up to the CUL8TR then back to Rumble with a grin. They had done it! "Let's just get out of here."

Outside, the streets were mostly empty. Despite the timeframe given to him by Jinx, by the sound of things her attacks continued. Every so often an explosion could be heard, though it was hard to pin down where exactly each was coming from.

As planned, Rumble and Veigar split up on the way back to the inn to avoid being seen together… not that there seemed to be much of a risk of being seen at all. The journey back would not take long and Veigar was in a particularly good mood after completing the first major step towards his master plan. Assuming Rumble was, in fact, competent… the CUL8TR would be transported first to the shed at the Institute and then to the garage he had arranged for Rumble in the woods. Two easy teleports, he had said. That and a pack of lies from the Mechanized Menace to the Institute of War.

About a block from the inn Veigar's thoughts were interrupted by the loudest boom he'd heard that day. Jumping, he spun around to find the source and perhaps tell Jinx off for her foolishness. What he found, instead, was a cat.

A very large cat. With stripes. And teeth. And a very angry expression. "What the-"

The tiger rushed towards him, ready to pounce on its yordle prey. Thinking quickly, Veigar summoned an Event Horizon, trapping the beast inside. Scurrying backwards, the yordle stared wide-eyed at the monstrous cat as his heart caught up with him. The creature stalked back and forth, afraid to even try to step over the glowing lines of purple magic. Looking closely, a small black box seemed to be strapped to its leg… what was that doing there? Perhaps some kind of tag from the-

Another incredibly loud boom. The tiger panicked, running forward into the Event Horizon to be stunned. Veigar himself had jumped at the sound, not blaming the creature in the least. He'd likely run into a stunning field himself had a loud recording of explosions been strapped to his leg.

… And judging by the random abundance of distant 'explosions,' the entirety of Piltover's Zoo had been freed for Jinx's little charade.

At least now she was free to raid Vi's kitchen or whatever it was the crazed woman had wanted to do.

The cacophony of exotic animals and conclusive blasts continued all through the night as city officials worked to gather the zoo animals. Rumble returned to the inn with his own story involving a pair of monkeys and stolen goggles, swearing vengeance against Piltover at large for its transgressions. His exact wording may have been more colorful. Upon completing his tirade, the yordle teleported out.

Veigar would not be so lucky. Instead of a customized Institute-approved teleportation crystal to solve his problems, he lay awake through the night, listening to the distant chaos. It had not been a problem before now and so he had not thought to learn it, but the experience taught him it was long past time to learn a soundproofing spell. Perhaps Lulu knew… no. No she'd probably enjoy being kept awake by explosions. He'd never paid much attention before, but she and Jinx likely got along well down in the bottom lane. Maniacs, the both of them.

* * *

Late the next morning, while dining at the small café across from the inn, the news of the night before began to filter in. Local humans and yordles alike gossiped amongst themselves over the night's events. The canceled festival. Jinx's attack on the zoo. … how had she managed to cuff all those animals with the soundboxes anyway? The mysterious disappearance of Heimerdinger's latest great invention. A Jackalope still missing, last spotted on the north side of the city. Even word that the office of the Dean of Demolitions had been ransacked was spreading around. Veigar snickered to himself as he drank his coffee (was he ever tired,) the chuckle soon growing to a full-on laugh that gained the attention of the entirety of the café. "What?!" he snapped, realizing everyone's eyes were on him. They quickly went on with their business.

Early afternoon Veigar was summoned to battle at the Howling Abyss. Preparing himself for the worst after his last match here against Teemo, he went in taking it as the chance to return home and check in on its assailant.

As it turned out, this was hardly necessary. Across bridge, feeding a moderately-sized poro with a mustache, was Lulu herself. The girl was dressed in her winter clothing, eyes magicked to match, with that little bug of a companion hovering over her like a poro himself.

Veigar's fingers twitched from where he stood in the brush. How long would it be before she noticed they were up against each other? Would she announce to all that she knew where he lived? Praise him again as he took down _her_ team?

A snowball thrown from across the bridge hit him square in the face, stinging his nose as well as giving away his position. Lulu grinned, giggling softly, but said nothing. Moments later their team initiated and Veigar cast an Event Horizon. Before long both teams were in a full-on brawl, making it very difficult for him to get to her to ask the one question that had on his mind. Midway through the game, with just the two of them standing after a teamfight, he had his chance.

"I need," a baleful strike was sent to knock-out two minions, "to ask you-"

"I don't!" Lulu interrupted, giggling again.

Veigar raised an eyebrow, but continued, talking over her, "how long you stayed after I left."

She spun before sending a glitterlance through his wave of minions. "Hmmmm only two nights. But that's not what I was going to not-ask you about."

"Only?! That's the entire time I was gone. Please don't tell me you broke anything," he pleaded, once against envisioning all thing things that could have gone wrong. The antiques. Dark spell books. Star table. His room… oh, his room. If she had gone and made it all pink and purple and butterflies.

"Okay, I won't tell you," she grinned as Braum appeared alongside her. Looking past, he could see the remainder of her team close behind. His unease about her vague answer would have to wait. He had a match to win.

That said, it was probably a good thing he had a summoner to keep him from getting too distracted.

* * *

 **an:**

Sorry Ocean, I couldn't wait for you to beta it. I lack patience. Feel free to correct my mistakes if you please and I'll edit them later XD

I miss reviews. They make me happy. Also, if you _are_ going to review, please sign in! I like to respond to people but I can't if I don't know who you are D:

I'd like to give a special thanks to Misfire Ezreal for being both my fangirl and my friend. You're awesome! She said she maybe will write a LuluxVeigar fluff piece because I'm sad no one else is updating anything for the paring right now. Help me make her do it?


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

Lulu grinned even as Veigar's team took down her nexus. It was hard to not be excited! Melo. Meeelo. Such an adorable little name for her adorable little friend.

Recognizing the boy in the photograph had been quite the shock. It had taken an immense amount of effort to keep herself from dropping the photo though, and even more to not tell Nema that her son was still alive. The secret bubbled upward, wanting to burst from her mouth, but Lulu knew better. This was the sort of news that should come from Veigar himself. Melo himself. That same boy hopped now with a cackle around her Nexus, giddy with victory. She could picture his grin under the hat as he celebrated his win, wide as it had been when he had conquered the forest slope. It matched perfectly the carefully hidden photograph in her shoulder bag.

"Veigar!" Lulu leapt from the platform, clinging onto the mage's arm. Pix, still in the form of a fluffy flying poro, landed gently on her hat to rest from the match.

Clearing his throat, Veigar shook her off before taking a step away. "You never answered my question. What trouble _did_ you get into at…" he paused, looking around to see if anyone was listening before continuing in a quieter voice, "…my house?"

She grinned, content that he hadn't brushed off her presence as usual. He even wanted to talk to her! Lulu paused to think. "Trouble?" She hadn't remembered anything particularly dangerous happening. "Well… I played with some of your toys and tried to read some boring backwards book. Does that count? Oh and your room was a mess and there was a hole in your top sheet and a broken mirror so I cleaned some of it up but the hole is going to be back by now because I can't sew and keeping it transmogulated is too much work. Oh, and," she added with a devious grin, "Pix dropped that priceless star globe of yours out the window."

Veigar, who seemed to be struggling to keep up with her list of activities, did not look happy at the mention of his globe. Glowing eyes sharpened on to her hat where Pix was suddenly standing.

"I did not!" Pix shouted, defending himself as he turned back into his usual form. Landing on her staff, he looked back to her with a slight scowl. "Don't you bring me into this game, Lulu!"

"Don't get cranky," Lulu shook her staff as Pix hung on tightly. "I'm just teasing him."

"That globe," Veigar seemed to be at the edge of his patience, "is a family heirloom and if _either_ of you-"

"Broke it? No. It's safe! Never left the stand, actually," she giggled. Veigar was so easy to trick. "Oh, though he did start a kitchen fire with your jar of spiders."

Now he just looked exhausted. Hesitating for a moment, he asked "… You are attempting to make a joke, correct?"

"Yup!"

There was another brief silence where he simply stared.

"So… are you going home now?" Lulu took it upon herself to fill in that quiet, following Veigar as he turned towards the platform. "Or another trip somewhere for your secret evil plan? Maybe Demacia this time? Or are you going home to work on your evil plan?"

"Wherever I'm going," he turned towards her where he stood ready to teleport out, "I'll be busy."

"Okay!" Lulu stopped beside him and opened her bag, retrieving her crystal. "See you in…um… four days with my not-question!"

"Four days?" Veigar questioned as he began to fade, "what's in four-" then disappeared altogether.

Tutting, Lulu slowly shook her head. "Tuesday, of course. Veigar really should start paying attention to the colors, don't you think, Pix? He just can't keep track of the date."

Lulu was not able to wait for Tuesday. With the photo in her possession she could hardly think of anything else. Far too many questions had hatched in her curious mind and she simply _had_ to have them answered.

Despite the blinding yellow that was Saturday, Lulu set off for their meeting spot to wait. She arrived early, unable to wait for the taste of celery before beginning the hike. Anxious and full of energy, she was dying to confront Veigar.

…Within minutes she was bored. Looking to Pix, who was lounging lazily on her staff, a slow grin surfaced. "Tag, you're it!" was all the warning she gave before transmogulating herself into a chipmunk and scurrying away with unnatural speed. The two spent the next sixteen minutes chasing each other back and forth, Lulu changing form with every turn.

Letting out a fit of giggles upon successfully reaching Pix as a flying squirrel, the girl returned herself to her yordle form as she lay on the ground. "P-Pix, you almost got away that time!" she continued to laugh. The game was a welcome respite from her anxiety. "I'm going to take a break now though so-" her laughter ended abruptly at a cold stillness filled her. She'd been stunned. It was brief, but already a dark cloud was forming above her, ready to fall.

"Zippy!" the moment the stun released her Lulu was off, Pix shielding her just in case she wouldn't make it out in time. It would turn out to be an unneeded drain on her already low mana pool from all her games with the fairy before. Veigar had caught her off guard, a true shame as she had meant to be the one to ambush him.

"Whatever happened to Tuesday! You said-" a predictably high-pitched screech could be heard across the way and she turned, zeroing in on his location.

"Nope!" a cheery reply was all she gave him. She was proud. Veigar had figured it out. It was only too bad she had messed up their schedule just as he was beginning to catch on.

Unamused, he continued, "I expressly remember you saying four-"

"Didn't say I couldn't visit sooner!~"

Veigar scowled. "I never said you could show at all!"

"But I did! So I came here and played with Pix. Then you stunned me. So now it's time for another game!" Lulu laughed, loving this already. The familiar thrill of being near him, sparing her friend. Teasing him. She almost forgot why the date had been moved up in the first place.

"I don't play games," he hissed, ignoring her antics as usual. A moment later his stun reappeared. Lulu side-stepped it, predictable Veigar was predictable, but moved the wrong direction so was trapped inside. Audible maniacal glee proved him to be enjoying this. The cloud again was forming…

Lulu just grinned, ready for the fight. "C'mon, you. Let's dance!" Following the direction of her staff, Pix zoomed over to Veigar, damaging him while giving him a slight visible glow. A moment later, just as the cloud of dark matter collapsed just where Lulu had been, a purple shot of glitter slowed the male, allowing her to get close enough to turn him into a squirrel. She wouldn't be able to hold it long, not with such little of her mana remaining, but it was enough for her to approach him. Leaning down, she picked up the very feral-looking purple squirrel. "Tut, tut," she whispered, shaking her head. "Haven't we been through this before? I just wanted to play."

With a poof of color, Veigar returned. The sudden weight on her hands pulling her down with him in the fall. "… ow."

Veigar wasted no time. Dark Matter. Baleful strike. "Ow!" The Event horizon came only after she rolled away, catching her easily this time. As usual, Lulu didn't really mind. Even without Pix to shield her from the final blow, she knew her friend would never be able to follow through. And so she grinned, waiting for Veigar to make the same realization as he raised his staff.

Predictably, Veigar hesitated, staring her down all the while. Finally, "Ugh," the event horizon released.

Lulu sat up, laughter resuming.

"Stop laughing!" he demanded shrilly. She only laughed more. "Stop it, I say!"

Lulu bounced up, spinning as Pix settled in at his usual place on her hat. "I kneeeew you wouldn't do it," she grinned.

Poor Veigar looked as frustrated by this as she was pleased. "You're fortunate that you happen to be a champion for the League," he stated, standing still as she danced around.

"Sure, of course that," she nodded before grasping his arm. "But _also_ we're friends! Friends don't hurt each other, silly."

There was a heavy sigh as he glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "Right. _Friends_. I had forgotten."

It had only been a few days… Had he really? No, he must have been playing still. "Oh, did you have another reason then?" She decided to play along, too.

He continued to stand quite still, not even bothering to shake her off. "I already told you, the Institute of War punishes all those who-"

Lulu laughed loudly, interrupting him. "Aren't you going to take over the world or something? With all your power? You could just punish them yourself!"

Veigar's response was to finally free his arm, yanking it in one sharp motion. One of his gauntlet's many spikes scratched against her arm, stinging.

"Ouch!" She really needed to do something about his silly spikes. Turning him into a squirrel every time she wanted to hug him wasn't really the most practical option.

He glancing down at the cut, hesitating before turning away. "I _am_ evil. I _will_ do it… and… it's no laughing matter." Something about the way he said it sounded grumpier than usual.

"I never said otherwise," Lulu pouted. She hadn't meant to offend him. Pix fluttered down to fuss over her, healing the minor wound from its chocolate to magic state. "… thanks," she mumbled before sighing. "Anyway, I just meant that you're really strong! You're not afraid of anything. So I knoooow that's not why you wouldn't just, you know… kill me."

"It's a waste of time to, okay?" he answered with almost as much of a pout as she had. Whatever he said, she knew the truth. He wasn't _that_ evil. Lulu smiled, taking his arm once more, though this time more gently. Again he didn't even try to step away. "Doesn't matter. I have important things to do." While Lulu didn't doubt that, she couldn't let him go that easily. Besides… there was still the important matter to discuss about the photo. About his name! Her soft smile suddenly widened, excitement filling her body as she yanked on his arm. "What?!"

"You can't go yet!"

"Watch me." He made to pull his arm again… but stopped himself in time to prevent another scratch.

Shaking her head, Lulu let go, rolling her eyes as she smiled knowingly. "Okay, go. Shoo shoo." Her thanks for his consideration would to give him a slight head start before pulling him back.

He looked doubtful, but side-stepped down the path once, twice, then-

"But you'll never ever ever ever find out what my not-question is and I know you're going to want to know if you knew what it was because it's something I know you wouldn't want anyone to know but I know it~" she giggled gleefully, dropping to the ground. She knew he wouldn't be able to resist that. The laugh continued even as he tried to walk away and after just three seconds he stopped, turning back. Just as she'd predicted.

"Fine. Just… fine! You win! What is it that you know?" He hissed, marching towards her.

It was time. Without warning, Lulu jumped to her feet. One hop later she landed directly in front of Veigar, expression perfectly serious as she prepared herself to tell him. But first… "I want to see under your hat."

* * *

 **an:** Melo is pronounced like Meilo would be in Japanese. If you don't know Japanese pronunciation, try to decipher this instead: **Mālō**. Not that it matters… I can't stop you from pronouncing his name however you'd like ;)

Also I have the next chapter half finished already. Hmm… I wonder how to motivate me to finish it.


	12. Chapter 12

**an: So uh, Yeah I'm alive. Thanksgiving happened and I was without a computer for a week. Then Miraculous Ladybug ate my life. You have no idea. If you don't remember the previous chapter well, I recommend at least skimming the second half as it leads right into Veigar's POV.**

 **Chapter Twelve**

"W-what?" Veigar stuttered, taken aback by the sudden request. One moment she had been laughing on the ground like the strange girl she was and the next…

"Your hat. I want to see under it again." She was close enough by now that had the hat's enchantment been gone, a clear view would be visible despite the wide brim.

…That was too close.

Veigar took a step back, trying to calculate his next move. What was with her? "It was a mistake the first time!"

"Awww," she simply moved with him, no regard for personal space. "What would the harm be? I already know what you look like."

"Then why do you need to see again?" he continued to move, hand twitching nervously as she continued to follow. Without realizing it, the yordle backed himself into a tree, no room for him to move without having to resort to injuring the girl again in the process. Or perhaps stunning her.

Lulu just smiled, reaching up slowly to remove the hat herself. He wasn't stopping her, just as he hadn't sent the finishing blow before. She hummed, pushing it up, then pulled off the oversized hat to place it on the ground behind her. Pix zoomed from her own hat to his, guarding it according to some pre-arranged plan.

Why couldn't he just stun her? This somehow was worse than when she had visited him with those cupcakes. "Move away, Sorceress!" For that could be the only explanation. That nefarious fairy magic!

In response, Lulu pulled out a piece of paper from the shoulder bag at her side, holding it up to compare. "I see it," she smiled softly, glancing between the paper and him. "You know, you were quite the adorable child!"

"What?!" he snarled, snatching the paper from her hands. As impossible as it was, the photo was of him. The naïve, young adolescent self stood by a female… his mother. Veigar blinked. He'd almost forgotten about her. In the photograph's background, the Mother Ship rose tall while surrounding decorations marked the event as the summer festival. Veigar dropped the picture as if it seared his gauntleted hands before looking up to glare at the girl. "How did you-?"

"Found it~"

As Lulu had proved herself able to find anything this was not much of surprise. Though where such an item could be found in the first place was beyond him. "You had no right, going through my things!"

"Wasn't yours, silly. If you had anything personal like this I would have found it at your house days ago! Oh, wait. Hmmm… I guess I did get this the day after, didn't I?" she laughed as she realized the error in her logic. "Anyway. Not yours!"

Then whose could it have been? "Nor should you be researching me!"

Lulu's smile dropped into an almost-playful scowl. "Well," A purple finger taped at his nose. "Yooou had no right to nearly kill me!"

"Wha?" Without his control, he felt his jaw slacken, bewildered. She what was she doing so close said what? Wordsaboutnearlykillwhat- His nose was flicked and she stepped back, releasing him from the spell she seemed to have cast again. This was getting ridiculous. "I had every right! Just, you. You, stop. Stop following me," he sidestepped awkwardly, aiming to move behind her to collect his hat.

Lulu appeared to have other plans, stepping with him to block his way with a mischievous expression. Pix hovered alert, ready to defend the hat alongside his companion.

"Stop, stop getting in my way." Veigar tried the opposite direction, only to be blocked again. "I will stun you here until the sun sets if I have to!"

"You wouldn't dare~" she teased, not the least bit bothered by his threat.

Moving closer to her, he lowered his voice, intending to meet her challenge. "Do you want to bet?"

Even now, Lulu was not afraid. Never afraid. Why was that? She was a yordle too; it couldn't possibly be due to his stature! Brave, crazy, naïve, whatever she was, clearly none of his usual tactics would work on her. Not when her perfectly innocent yet devious little face prevented him from finalizing any attack.

"Bet using what? Because there was one other little big thing I know that you'll want to know. Maybe you could get that information out of me." She laughed pleasantly, eyes closing for a fraction of a second.

That was it. The spell reengaged and Veigar found himself unable to think of anything more than her teasing words and those bright eyes and how fast his heart seemed to be beating. How long had that been going on? Why couldn't she just move away? Why couldn't he? But she was just standing there so charming and smiling purple lips when so close did he get?

"Um…Veigar?" The question came quietly from the wide-eyed girl.

As if shocked by the same power that had drawn him in, he jumped backwards, wide-eyed and confused as his mind rushed to catch up with what had just happened.

Lulu seemed just as confused. There was silence, a rare blessing when she was involved. Though now he suddenly missed her inexplicable ability to talk constantly. Despite everything he still hadn't quite managed to take his eyes off of her and so did not fail to miss the blush rising in her cheeks. What had he… did he almost do? Forcing himself to look away, Veigar sharply stepped around her taking the hat without regard to the fairy who appeared almost as shocked as Lulu did. Hat in hand, he turned, resuming his trip down the forest path without another word.

Three. Two. One. … Half. … … quarter.

…

"Veigar!"

There it was! He had known he wouldn't have been able to make a perfectly clean getaway. Swallowing first he put on a passive face, chuckling as he turned around to face her. "Yes, girl?"

"You… what? I mean," her arms flailed, adorably flustered. "What was that?!"

His response was delayed, all energy needed to fight off her spell before it returned. "Did you forget?"

"Forget what?!" she flailed faster, entirely confused.

Veigar shrugged, lifting the hat just above his head. "That I'm evil," he stated with a grin before dropping it. The enchantment kicked in, darkening the whole of his face aside from the eyes. He turned away, chuckling lightly as he left through forest path.

That good humor did not last long. The further he walked the more his mind replayed the afternoon's events. Still all he knew for certain was he was sick of the way he stomach kept flipping in circles whenever he thought of it. Veigar needed a distraction, and fortunately for him, he knew exactly where to find one.

When he had set out on his walk after lunch he had intended on meeting Rumble at the hidden garage. The location wasn't, in actuality, far from his home. It was only a short walk south, but far enough that one shouldn't stumble upon the other merely by chance. Shouldn't. Veigar realized with another sickening flip in his stomach that Lulu would find her way to it eventually… if she hadn't already. A quick glance behind him proved she wasn't following, at least not in an obvious manner. With her skill set there was no way of knowing. Shaking his head in an ineffective attempt to clear his thoughts, he sped forward.

Still tense, Veigar opened the small door behind the garage slowly. Deep down he knew it didn't matter… if he was being followed, that was all there was to it. But that didn't stop his need to keep his movement as quiet as possible. Inside, the CUL8TR towered above him while the clinking of metal and muttered curses could be heard from somewhere behind the back leg. Veigar frowned, following the noise to find him. "What are you up to now, Runt?"

Rumble jumped, hitting his elbow against the side of the machine. "Ooouch," he sucked in his breath, glaring over in the mage's direction. "No need to slink up like a snake. Sheesh." The yordle rubbed his injury, shaking his head.

"I asked what you were doing. Shouldn't you be learning how to use the machine?" Walking around the leg, a large panel could be seen missing. "… instead of dismantling it?"

"Who ever said I can't do both?" Rumble scoffed, resuming his tinkering. "I just wanted to see exactly how he made this part work. There's only so much a blueprint can explain."

"I swear, if so much as a single bolt is put back incorrectly I'll-"

"Yeah, yeah. Swallow my soul. Got it." The fool had the gall to roll his eyes, shooing him away with his free hand. "Just let me work, I'll put it all back. I can handle this…you hired _me_ for a reason."

"That reason being for you to operate the machine's controls."

"Which won't be a problem. You've seen me with Tristy. If I'm helping you with this, I'm going to take what I can from Heimerdinger," he practically spat the name, "and make it better."

Veigar grunted. What was the point in being here now if Rumble was oogling machine parts? If he were working on the controls as he had expect that would have been a different thing altogether. He might have been able to learn something himself, or at least properly distract him from Lulu's bright green eyes.

No.

With a huff, the yordle marched to the oversized blueprint lying beside the runt, pulling it off the ground and scanning it over for what was likely the fifteenth time. The diagrams did nothing for his flustered mind but at least now he could pretend he was doing something halfway productive. Veigar managed to nearly convince himself of this for a total of thirty seconds before rumpling the paper in an restless fit, firing the paper ball at the backside of the mechanic.

Rumble turned straight around, glaring what Veigar supposed the rat considered a frightful manner. "What- did you just?" He opened the paper, confirming his obvious suspicion. "Veigar we still need this paper! What do you think you're doing throwing it around like-"

Veigar was halfway to the door, not listening to a solitary word of Rumble's rant. He could not stay here, he could not possibly accomplish anything when he couldn't focus.

"- as if you don't think my role in this is important when you clearly need me if you're going to pull-"

At the exit now, Veigar looked back, stating deadpan, "Not a single bolt, Rumble." He paused, an additional thought coming to his mind halfway through slamming the door. "Oh, and should Lulu ever find this place, don't you _dare_ let her in." Not that there was much anyone could do to stop the girl, but at least Rumble didn't have the same ridiculous spell cast over him. Hopefully.

Distant complaining could be heard from the opposite side of the door as he shut it, but Veigar paid it no mind, instead leaning against the wall with a weary sigh. Perhaps if he were lucky he'd be summoned for a match soon. Little else would likely make him forget how close he had gotten to doing something so foolish in its entirety. But luck rarely favored him, nor would it this time. His next best bet would be to take a very, very long nap.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

"I'm really just not sure what to do." Heaving a sigh, the small, purple squirrel leaned her back against the headstone. "Pix thinks I should keep away from him because he's," Lulu paused, crinkling her nose slightly before chortling, "unstable. But I don't know. I mean, it was kind of weird when it happened but at the same time…" a second sigh came forth as she smiled. "I really just like being around Veigar."

Lulu stood up, taking several small squirrel-steps away before turning back "What do you think, Dad? You know more about boy yordles than I do," she laughed. "Or you, Mom? Is it… normal to like someone so much? I mean, you must have really liked Dad to agree to be his mate."

Unsurprisingly, the cemetery remained quiet despite her questioning. For once, she felt a little silly to be asking advice of her long-dead parents… especially as today was a Monday. Had she ever made a special trip out to Bandle City so early in the week?

A rustling noise some distance away could be heard, and Lulu quickly climbed up on top of Dad's marker to investigate. Nema stood by her son's gravestone, mourning him silently. It was surprising to see her again so soon… even after ten long years she still came so regularly?

Itching for _someone_ to talk to, Lulu jumped to the ground, rushing towards Nema at top speed. If she couldn't ask her own mother for advice, perhaps Veigar's mother would do? Then they could bond and become good friends and- Lulu skid to a stop just a few plots down from the other yordle. No. She hadn't even told Veigar that she knew his real name yet. It had been a little difficult to after he- Lulu shook her head, clearing her mind of the strange, fuzzy feeling that filled it. The point was that she couldn't face Nema yet. Not now. Not with so many secrets. Lulu turned away, bid her parents farewell, and climbed over the cemetery's wall.

The idea of returning to the forest made her nervous. Veigar would likely keep to himself again, hiding away after whatever _that_ was, but that didn't mean it was impossible for him to show himself. No, Lulu would wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow was a Tuesday. If there was ever a day to track her friend down, it would be then. But in the meantime… there was all to Bandle City to distract herself with.

Still a squirrel, Lulu ran as Pix followed high above. Across the rooftops, past the Mothership, and to the small, squire plaza that remained after all these centuries. An ancient tree stood in the center, just as large, if not larger, than she had remembered as a child. The parameter was filled with rows of flowers while children played on the wide, cobblestone path wrapping around the tree. This was the place where time stood just as still as it did in the Glade. The park across from what was once Lulu's childhood home.

It was here she met and saved Pix from being stuck in one of the many birdhouses nestled between the flowers. Here she returned and played again- only to be banished for using harmless magic.

Glancing to the plot across the road where her home once stood, Lulu sighed. At some point the house had been torn down, replaced with a small hardware store. This had been one of her earliest discoveries upon returning from the Glade. A poster on the window caught her eye and, despite her unease with the newer building, Lulu scurried to get a better look.

It could hard be helped, the way the bright colors and, more importantly, the large pink cupcake imagery called to her. "Cupcake Festival?" she tried to squeak, squirrel-eyes wide. Bandle City had a festival entirely dedicated to _cupcakes?_ Lulu squealed, snatching the poster off the window with as much grace as a squirrel could muster before dashing around the building to hide as she released her transformation.

"Second Annual Cupcake Festival," the poster read. "Cake tasting… Market… Parade?! Pix, are you seeing this?"

From high above, Pix fluttered down, reading the poster from his friend's shoulder. "You're not planning on attending, are you?"

"Of course I am. Loo! There's even going to be Fireworks! I _have_ to go to this. You know how much I love cupcakes. Oh! Do you think I could get Veigar to come with me? We could both sneak in together."

"What, after that strange moment last time?"

Lulu's purple face immediately filled with pink as the memory was recounted. "Y-yeah." _Especially_ after last time. Veigar had been so close, his face mere inches from hers, hovering as if waiting for some unknown event to happen. It had felt confusing, strange, dizzying, but… good. "I think I'd like…" to be that close to him again. "To bring him. … If he'd let me," she sighed.

Rolling up the poster, she stuffed it into her bag, trading it for the small photograph she had treasured for the past five days. How happy they both looked. How happy _he_ looked. Here, he was childish and carefree, perfectly content in the company of his mother. That same, perfect, amazing smile had made her tummy flip the first moment she had seen it all those weeks ago… the day they had fallen from the path and lost his hat. And then again three days ago after he'd almost- well, whatever that had been. Her blush renewed and Lulu groaned, covering her face with her hands. "I'm getting dizzy just thinking about him, Pix," she mumbled. "I mean, I liked him before. A lot. But now…"

Feeling a light tug from the photo, Lulu looked up to see Pix pulling it away. "Then don't thinka bout him," he stated, tugging a final time to yank the photo free and return it to her bag.

"But I _like_ thinking about him. It's a good dizzy! I just don't understand it or why he left or what it means or what to do if it happens again or-"

"Alright, alright," Pix flew back up, landing on Lulu's hand to look her in the eye. "No more of this nonsense. We wouldn't want you to turn into that gooey blue rat, do we?"

"Blue… rat? Oh! Ruble? But what do you mea-" she stopped short, blinking as she recalled sitting in his mech suit, smelling the control and opening panels. He had been upset with her, she knew, for invading his prized possession but Tristy was just so _big_ and colorful and fun that the yordle could not restrain herself. Then as he pulled at her arm, Lulu had found the photograph he'd hidden away. It had been a beautiful, clear shot of their fellow champion… Tristana. The photo of the Bandle City Gunner that her blue friend clearly did not want anyone else to see. Tristana, who Rumble would always seem distracted and embarrassed around. "… he feels the same way," Lulu muttered calmly, making the connection. "About her. Doesn't he? He even has a photo. Just like I do of Veigar."

Pix sighed, fluttering up to rest on her hat. "Let's go home, Lulu."

On Tuesday, he didn't show. Pix said this shouldn't be surprising but Lulu was disheartened all the same. Had he been called away for his secret evil project again? Or was he just…

… avoiding her?

The thought made her tummy sink, absolutely saddened that he might not want to spend any time around her. "Maybe… just forgot?" Lulu offered, glancing up to Pix for affirmation.

The fairy actually scoffed in response, prompting Lulu to scowl.

"Fine! Then we're visiting him!"

"Lulu! Stop it. He'd be here if he wanted to be so please, just leave-"

"No." 

But he wasn't at his house, either. Perhaps not in days, judging by the spoiled food left out on the kitchen table. Lulu took a small amount of satisfaction in this. If Veigar wasn't at home, they he must be busy with his plan. Right? While that was far from ideal… at least that meant he didn't hate her. Hopefully.

Maybe.

Coming to a decision, the yordle opted to mend Veigar's sheets, tuck herself into the bed, and stay the night. She'd be here, waiting, whenever her friend returned.

Only he didn't appear Wednesday either. Lulu waited all morning before going out to trace his usual path. With Pix's words repeating loudly in her ears, she was not surprised that Veigar could not be found. He _wanted_ to be left alone.

Lulu wouldn't allow that. _Couldn't_ allow that. If Veigar was anywhere out in these woods Lulu would find him.

It took until it was nearly sunset before she found the northern trail far from Veigar's usual path. With only a vague sense of purple to go off on, tracking him down had been incredibly difficult. But found him she did, walking up the path towards her, metal gloves twitching all the while. Lulu felt herself sigh, a soft smile growing as she took the sight of him, so unprepared as usual, for her visit.

Lulu stepped out calmly from behind her tree, waiting, waiting…

"Oomph!" Until he walked right into her.

* * *

 **an:** So uh I… have no excuse for taking so long. Despite this, I will try. Fully conceptualizing the second half of this fanfic has been difficult and lead to some serious writer's block despite having a finished outline. That and I've been RPing for Lulu on Tumblr and that miiight have eaten up my life. Oops. But here you go!


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